Ethiopia's Samuel Tefera tore up the script for the Muller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham, upstaging compatriot Yomif Kejelcha to break the long-standing world indoor 1500m record* at the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting on Saturday (16).
Kejelcha, who last week came within 0.01 of the world indoor mile record at the Millrose Games, had announced his intentions to break the 1500m mark ahead of his race in Birmingham. But Tefera, the world indoor champion at the distance, had a plan of his own.

The pacemakers hit their required target times with Bram Som taking the field through 400m in 55.69 and Jordan Williamsz leading them through 1000m in 2:21.27.

With the pacemakers having done their job, Kejelcha reached 1200m in 2:49.28 and was still on course to challenge the record, but Tefera was tucked close behind and looked ominously comfortable with the pace. Australia’s Stewart McSweyn was a few strides adrift in third place while Kenyan duo Bethwel Birgen and Vincent Kibet were further behind.

The clock ticked through 3:03 as the bell sounded for the final lap and Tefera made his move, kicking past Kejelcha to take the lead and leaving his compatriot unable to respond. Tefera charged towards the line and stopped the clock at 3:31.04, taking 0.14 off the previous record set by Hicham El Guerrouj in 1997.

Kejelcha finished second in an outright personal best of 3:31.58 while McSweyn held on to third place with an Oceanian indoor record of 3:35.10.

“I can't believe that,” said Tefera. “I’m delighted with the outcome and to have the world record is a special feeling.”

Another record-breaking performance came just 40 minutes later.

European 1500m champion Laura Muir had been coy about her goal for the mile in Birmingham and insisted beforehand that simply winning and running well was her main target. But once the race got underway and her opponents fell further and further behind, it became clear that she was on course to smash the national indoor record of 4:23.86.

Paced through 409m (1:07.69) and 809m (2:12.37), Muir was alone in front for the second half of the race but kept churning out the 32-second laps. The clock showed 3:47.97 as Muir embarked on her final lap, meaning she had to cover the last 200 metres in 36 seconds to get the record. She went significantly quicker, though, and reached the finish in a world-leading 4:18.75, the third-fastest indoor mile of all time.

Her 1500m split of 4:01.83 was also an improvement on the British indoor record, a mark Muir already held.

Source: iaaf.org