Dibaba sets world record, Sihine wins men's event

NIJMEGEN (Netherlands) - Ethiopia's double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba improved the 15km world record on Sunday on her way to victory in the IAAF Seven Hills Run here.

The 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic champion clocked 46min 28sec to better the previous mark of 46:55 which was set by Japan's Kayoko Fukushi in Marugame on February 5, 2006.


Four-time world champion Dibaba, 24, already holds the world record over 5,000m. She has also won two world cross-country titles.

In the men's event, Ethiopia's Sileshi Sihine won a sprint finish in 42:14 ahead of Uganda's Nicholas Kiprono.

Sihine, Tirunesh Dibaba's husband, had won the event twice already, with victories in 2004 and 2007, according to IAAF. In 2004 he came within nine seconds of Limo’s World record, a performance which still marks him as the ninth fastest over the distance. Sihine, 27, won Olympic silver in the 10,000m in both 2004 and 2008. His third victory comes in after a recovery from an injury.

Sihine's sprint finish edged out Kiprono, who's the national record holder of Uganda.