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Another blazing 5000m run by Defar in Stockholm

Just a little shy.. Mizuno Track Club ambassador Meseret Defar came frustratingly close to her own World 5000m record in Stockholm (Hasse Sjögren)

The "World Record attempt" label is often used somewhat frivolously in promoting athletics meets but that was certainly not the case for Meseret Defar and the 5000m at the 2010 GE Galan in Stockholm on Wednesday (10th). Because if there was a prize for really trying hard but in the end coming up frustratingly close no one could deserve it more than Defar for her effort in the Globe Arena.

The GE Galan is the fifth of nine meetings in the IAAF Indoor Permit series for 2010.

From 400m to 4800m she was slightly ahead of her own pace when she set the current record of 14:24.37 in the same meet one year ago. The advantage was at its maximum of 3.5 seconds with just four laps remaining and even though Defar managed to speed up inspired by the vociferous support from the crowd the advantage shrunk: 3.0 s with three laps left, 1.9 s with two laps, 0.6 s at the bell.

And when she flashed across the finish line the clock showed 14:24.79 – i.e. 0.42 seconds too late which corresponds to 0.05 percent of the total time (864 seconds!). Of course Defar herself was very disappointed – especially as she had been about as close to her 3000m record in Stuttgart four days ago – but to call the second best mark ever a failure would be grossly unfair.

The obvious answer to the question "Where did she loose it?" is of course the last lap, but 31.2 is not a slow last lap in any way, the only problem was that incredible 30.2 she finished with last year. Her kilometre splits 2:51.1 – 5:48.0 (2:56.9) – 8:41.2 (2:53.2) – 11:34.8 (2:53.6) – 14:24.79 (2:50.0) instead indicates that a fairly slow second kilometre was the main reason Defar missed the record and the sub-14:20 she was aiming for.