Genzebe Dibaba celebrated her 27th birthday by roaring to victory in the women’s 1500m race at the third leg of the IAAF World Indoor Tour, the Madrid Indoor Meeting held in Spain on Thursday.
The Ethiopian was head and shoulders above the chasing pack as she set a Meeting Record (MR) of 4:02.43 to claim her second win on the tour, after she had emerged victorious in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Dibaba, who decided not to chase records at this year’s meet because of the high altitude, beat Germany’s European Indoor Silver medallist Konstanze Klosterhalfen (4:04.72), who finished runner-up to her in Karlsruhe.
Two-time World Champion Mariya Lasitskene continued her fantastic start to the indoor season as she won the women’s High Jump with a mark of 2.00m. Cuba’s Yorgelis Rodriguez placed 2nd while registering a mark of 1.85m.
The 25-year-old who has won all five of her outings so far however, couldn’t top her world-leading 2.04m mark which she set in Volgograd last month. She also extends her winning streak to a remarkable 34 meets.
Tomas Stanek continued his impeccable start to the season as he once again claimed victory in the men’s Shot Put, throwing an MR of 21.69m. By virtue of the win, the 26-year-old Czech thrower extended his leadership on this season’s list. USA’s two-time world indoor champion Ryan Whiting once again fell by the way side as he could only manage 4th position after he threw a mark of 20.36m.
In-form Spaniard Óscar Husillos caused one of the biggest upset on the night as he defeated two-time World Indoor and three-time European Indoor champion Pavel Maslak in Final A of the men’s 400m. Husillos was the only athlete to run below the 46-second barrier as he crossed the finish line in 45.86s. Another Spaniard Lucas Bua won the other Final in a time of 46.66s.
USA’s Mike Rodgers claimed his first victory on the tour as he pipped 2014 World Indoor Champion, Richard Kilty to win the men’s 60m race with a time of 6.63s. Also, Poland’s Adam Kszczot was in a class of his own in the men’s 800m final as he won in a time of 1:46.53.
It was a thrilling contest in the men’s Triple Jump as the duo of Almir Dos Santos and Portugal’s 2008 Olympic Champion Nelson Évora went head to head. It was Dos Santos who came out tops in the duel, with the high jumper cum triple jumper producing a lifetime best and World Leading (WL) jump of 17.35m in the third round as Évora couldn’t leap further than his opening jump of 17.02m.
Elsewhere, Greece’s 2014 World Indoor Champion Konstadinos Filippidis improved on his 3rd place finish in Düsseldorf as he beat Polish star and World Silver medallist Piotr Lisek in the Pole vault. His success at clearing the 5.85m mark at his second attempt was enough to hand him victory.
The next stop of the IAAF World Indoor tours would be in Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday, February 10th.
