News18 Jan 2006


Richards and Defar join Boston fields

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Sanya Richards of the USA cruises to the line in the women's 400m heats (© Getty Images)

Olympic 5000m gold medallist Meseret Defar of Ethiopia and American Sanya Richards, the World Championships silver medallist at 400m, are the latest additions to a star-studded field at the 11th annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games on 28 January 2006.

Defar, who is also the reigning World Championships silver medalist at 5000m and World Indoor champion at 3000m, will return to Boston where she won the 3000m last year.  The 22-year-old who is IAAF World Ranked number two for her event provided one of the most dramatic moments of the night when, going after the World indoor record. She was slowed near the end by a pair of runners she was lapping and missed the mark by less than a second.

Richards, the IAAF World Ranked number one for the 400m will compete at her specialist distance at which she won a World Championship silver medal last summer in Helsinki.  Richards is a two-time global relay gold medalist (2004 Olympics and 2003 World Championships), and last year became the youngest woman in history to break 49 seconds for the 400m. The second-fastest American woman ever, trailing only Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Richards was named 2005 Visa Humanitarian Athlete of the Year for her work in USA Track & Field’s “Be A Champion” programme of youth outreach.

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