Preview of Meeting Lievin Men’s 3000 meters

Preview of Meeting Lievin Men’s 3000 meters

Getnet Wale, Selemon Barega, and Lemecha Girma, the top three finishers in last year’s 3000 meters, will be back in Liévin.

The Ethiopian trio will attempt to break Daniel Komen’s world indoor 3000m record of 7:24.90 set in Budapest in 1998.

Last year in Liévin, Barega ran the third-fastest time in the 3000m, clocking 7:26.10 to finish second to his colleague Getnet Wale, who missed Komen’s world record by just 0.08 seconds.

Only six men had ever broken the 7:30 barrier in the 3000m indoors until last year’s edition of the Liévin meeting. At the Northern French meeting a year ago, four athletes made the list.

Behind Wale and Barega, two more Ethiopian athletes, Lamecha Girma and Berihu Aregawi finished third and fourth, clocking 7:27.98 and 7:29.94, respectively.

Girma went on to win the Olympic silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase in Tokyo.

It won’t be an all-Ethiopian affair, as the event will also feature Mohamed Katir of Spain, who set three national outdoor marks last summer in the 1500m (3:28.76 in Monaco), 3000m (7:27.64 in Gateshead), and 5000m (12:50.79 in Florence). Katir could challenge Adel Mechaal’s new European indoor record of 7:30.82, achieved on Staten Island by his compatriot. Ethiopian runner Nibret Melak, who has won the Cinque Mulini Cross Country race the past two years, will compete in the Liévin race

Additionally, the race will have Kenyan runners Nicholas Kimeli, fourth in the 5000m at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and Jacob Krop, sixth in the 5000m at the World Championships in Doha 2019; and Ethiopian Birhanu Balew, sixth in the 5000m at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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By Watch Athletics