Brunei’s Yavi and Uganda’s Perth Chemutai left the hare after just two laps, showing early on that they were looking for really good times at the Diamond League gala in Rome.
And when they were in the final lap, it turned out that it was going to be even better than good. On the run, Yavi, who won Olympic gold in Paris earlier this month and is also the reigning world champion, pulled away and sprinted to catch Beatrice Chepkoech’s six-year-old world record.
Close to the world record
But she missed it, by an extremely small margin. She finished in a time of 8.44.39 – which was seven hundredths off the world record. But it was an Asian record and a world best by a good margin.
– She cut the last obstacle a little badly and misses the world record because of it, states SVT Sports expert Christian Olsson.
Yavi’s time is the second fastest ever on the women’s side. Her previous personal best, 8.50.66, was previously the second fastest time in the world.