Oslo, Norway - The name of Ethiopia's Meseret Defar has become synonymous with the ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo, the second leg of the six-meeting ÅF Golden League 2009, ever since her 5000m World record in the Norwegian capital in 2007.

Two years ago, Defar ran 14:16.63 in a terrific race that was memorable not only for the fact that she took nearly eight seconds off her own World record of 14: 24.53 but also because it was a fantastic duel with Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot, who also finished inside Defar's old mark with 14:22.51.

Number 60 for Defar

“That was a special year for me. I came here wanting to break the World record, but I didn't expect I was going to take such a large slice out of it,” reflected Defar on her achievement of two years ago.

However, the 5000m World record was improved by her compatriot and rival Tirunesh Dibaba at this very meeting last year and now Defar is faced with a new challenge.
 
“I'm going to do my very best tomorrow, I'm going to run a very fast race, that's all I can say,” said Defar, playing her cards very close to her chest about what she can achieve and her true target.

Nevertheless, with the anticipated clash with Dibaba not materialising due to a last-minute injury in training on Tuesday night, a World record bid by Defar is definitely on the cards.

“I heard only today that Tirunesh was not coming, I was expecting to have a very good race with her but now that she's not coming, well, I just hope to have a very good race for myself,” added Defar, with quiet confidence.

“I've been saying since the winter that I would like to come back to Oslo this year. It's a very fast track and it's a place where World records are broken.”

The ExxonMobil Bislett Games meeting organisers have asked the Russian pacemaker Elena Zadoroshnaya to churn out initial laps of 68 seconds and try to reach 3000m somewhere between 8:32 and 8:34. If achieved, the 60th official World record on the famous track could enter the annals of athletics history.

Watching the clock

By comparison, when looking at intermediate times that may act as a guide, in a weirdly uneven race 12 months ago, Dibaba's sister Ejegayehu towed her younger sibling through 3000m in 8:38.83.

In her bid to improve on that mark later last summer in Stockholm, Defar ran
8:34.53 at 3000m but having to run alone over the final seven laps contributed to her falling just short with 14:12.88, which is still the second best performance of all-time.

It would be wrong to focus on just one runner in the 500m though, especially as that tenacious and super-talented Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot will also be on the start line.

“Yes, there are other good runners in the race, and two of them I know very well.  Of course, there is Vivian again and also (fellow Ethiopian) Meselech Melkamu,” conceded Defar.

“Meselech is clearly in very good form at the moment. She set an African record over 10,000n last month, although that was a surprise to me.”

Barriers to be broken

Defar is unbeaten in her four races this year, three indoors and back in Stockholm on 30 May, she also had a very rare outing over 10,000m in which she set a personal best of 31:07.34

Her current form leads to some scratching of heads about how fast she can run over 12-and-a-half laps of the track.

However, a suggestion from a local journalist that the rivalry between Dibaba and Defar - in similar fashion to the way other famous same-nationality rivalries, like Coe and Ovett, led to the record books being regularly amended - could lead to the 14-minute barrier being eventually breached brought a wry grin from the latter.

“Over 5000m the World record is very hard, last year I tried to break the World record in Stockholm and that was a very tough race. At the moment, going under 14 minutes looks over the horizon. I'm not going to say it's impossible but it's very, very difficult,” she added with her trademark smile.

Phil Minshull for the IAAF