Hellen Obiri.PHOTO/File
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 24 – Organisers of the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe have announced that Olympic silver medallist Hellen Obiri and British 1500m record-holder Laura Muir will race over 3000m at the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting on February 4.
Both athletes will be seeking their first victory in the German city. Obiri finished second over 1500m in Karlsruhe in 2012 before going on to win the world indoor 3000m title one month later. Muir, meanwhile, finished second over 3000m in 2015.
Obiri and Muir have been in the form of their life over the past 12 months. Obiri clocked season’s bests of 3:59.34 for 1500m and 8:24.27 for 3000m before going on to take the Olympic 5000m silver medal in Rio and ended her summer season with a PB of 14:25.78 at that distance.
Her form has continued through the winter and the Kenyan has won numerous cross-country races in recent months against quality fields.
Muir broke Kelly Holmes’ British 1500m record with her 3:57.49 run at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London last summer.
She improved it to 3:55.22 in Paris and ended the year as the Diamond Race winner in the event. Earlier this month, she smashed the British indoor 5000m record with a time of 14:49.12.
Obiri holds the Kenyan indoor 3000m record at 8:29.99. Muir’s outright PB of 8:38.47, set outdoors in early 2015, looks due for revision and she may have one eye on the British indoor record of 8:31.50.
Both runners could also challenge the meeting record of 8:35.28 set by Meseret Defar in 2013.
Obiri and Muir will line up against the top two finishers from the 1500m in Karlsruhe last year: Ethiopia’s 2014 world indoor silver medallist Axumawit Embaye and Germany’s world U20 3000m bronze medallist Konstanze Klosterhalfen.
2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour calendar
28 Jan – Boston, USA
1 Feb – Dusseldorf, GER
4 Feb – Karlsruhe, GER
10 Feb – Torun, POL
18 Feb – Birmingham, GBR
The post Obiri to compete over 3000m in Karlsruhe appeared first on Capital Sports.
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