Addis Ababa, January 21, 2024 (FBC) – Ethiopia’s Lemecha Girma will return to the scene of his world indoor 3000m record when he competes at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin, France, on 10 February.
The multiple world and Olympic 3000m steeplechase medallist clocked 7:23.81 at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting last year to break the previous world record of 7:24.90 set by Daniel Komen in 1998. He went on to improve the world 3000m steeplechase record in Paris in June, running 7:52.11.
Now Girma gets ready to race at the Arena Stade Couvert once again, six days after he competes at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, where he will also run the 3000m.
Girma is the second athlete named for this year’s Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, following the announcement of USA’s Olympic and world pole vault champion Katie Moon.
This year’s World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold season kicks off in Astana on 27 January and the fields for the men’s and women’s 60m hurdles there have recently been announced.
Britain’s 2018 world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi is among the entries for the men’s event, and he will be joined by athletes including Cuba’s Roger Iribarne, Milan Trajkovic of Cyprus and Yaqoub Al-Youha of Kuwait.
In the women’s event, USA’s two-time world indoor champion and 2019 world 100m hurdles gold medallist Nia Ali features in a field including 2022 world 100m hurdles champion Tobi Amusan, USA’s Tia Jones and Alaysha Johnson, and Ireland’s Sarah Lavin.