For the third time in succession the winner of the gold medal in the women’s 3,000m at the World Indoor Championships bears the name of Meseret Defar. The Ethiopian was a convincing winner of the title in Valencia in 8:38.79. The 24-year-old certainly didn’t have to go all out to leave her rivals well behind. Her compatriot Meselech Melkamu was second in 8:41.50. Third place was taken by the Moroccan Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, who won her first major medal in 8:41.66. “We wanted to win gold and silver for Ethiopia and we did it. We want to do exactly the same in Beijing this summer,” said Melkamu.

Running for the most part in second or third place, Defar always had the race under control. The Portuguese Jessica Augusto led through the first kilometer in 2:59.33, but then the pace became progressively faster. Selsouli took her turn in the lead but was unable to pose much of a threat to Defar once the Ethiopian finally moved into the attack. That was with two laps left to run, with six women still in the leading group. The defending champion attacked again on the final lap and left Melkamu behind.

“That was a nice race for me, because it was easy. I was fully in control throughout the final and really only had to race properly for the final two laps,” said Defar. Only one other woman has achieved three straight wins at this distance in these championships: Romania’s Gabriela Szabo did so between 1995 and 1999. Additionally Szabo was second in 2001, so there is one more to go for another unique achievement for Meseret Defar.

But first there are other priorities for this year. And it is not only Beijing that is on the list. At the end of April the African Championships will be a home meet for Defar, as they will be held in Addis Ababa. “It is the first time that this event is staged in Ethiopia. So that is very important for me as well,” said Defar, who will run the 5,000m there. Defar also said that she has decided that this will be the distance for Beijing as well. This is the distance at which she had won the Olympic gold in Athens in 2004. “I will definitely not double this season – neither in Addis Ababa nor in Beijing.”

Asked about her fiercest rival in recent years, Tirunesh Dibaba, Defar said: “I don’t know about her plans regarding Beijing. If she should go for the double and run the 5,000m, I will have no problem with that.”

Having broken one world record in 2006 and another four in 2007 (among them two world bests at 2 miles), Defar continued to add to her collection this winter, running 9:10.50 for 2 miles. Last summer she talked about a possible chase for the 10,000m world record this summer, but she was much more reserved on that project after her Valencia win. “I can not say at the moment if that will become a goal during the summer. I will decide with my coach some time after I am back from Valencia.”