Tirunesh Dibaba wins the 2003 Great Ethiopian Run (© E. Negash)
Newcastle, UKEthiopia’s World 5000 metres gold medallist Tirunesh Dibaba has stepped into tomorrow's View From Great North Cross Country - IAAF Permit - race as a last-minute replacement for World long course cross country champion Werknesh Kidane.
The teenager Dibaba, whose victory at the age of 18 years and 36 days made her the World Championships youngest-ever individual winner, replaces fellow Ethiopian Kidane, who herself only came into the race as a late replacement for last year's winner Edith Masai of Kenya, the World short course champion, who is injured.
A knee injury to Kidane in preparation for this Saturday's race looked to be another major problem for race director Peter Elliott, until another of the race’s competitors, reigning Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu solved it for him.
"Tulu immediately recruited her cousin Dibaba and sorted out the changes to the flight tickets in Addis Ababa - mark my words not an easy thing to do over there," said Elliott. The relieved former Commonwealth 1500m champion added: "As good as Kidane is, I could not have wished for a more able replacement. "Dibaba's in very good form, as shown when she won the Great Ethiopian Run a few weeks ago and I definitely think she will be the one to watch out for."
Lebid out
Sergiy Lebid, the four times European Champion, is another last-minute withdrawal. The Ukrainian who was narrowly beaten by Paul Tergat in Brussels before Christmas has been unable to secure a visa to enter the United Kingdom.
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