Ethiopian athletes continued the country’s winning streak at the weekend, seizing two gold medals and one bronze at the 20th Carlsbad 5000 in California, USA on Sunday.

Tirunesh Dibaba – Ethiopia’s World 5000 metres champion finished the 5km road race in a time of 14 minutes and 51 seconds, equaling the world’s fastest ever clocking for this distance, as established by Britain’s Paula Radcliffe in 2003. Despite her success, Dibaba was a touch disappointed that the world record did not fall.

"I'm very sad I didn't break it, I'm very upset," Dibaba said. "I'm happy that I won, but I don't know where it went wrong. I thought I broke the record."

Fellow Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu, the world Junior 5000metres champion maintained the country’s strong showing by finishing third in 15:16.

In the men’s race, Dejene Berhanu won his third consecutive title in 13 minutes and 10 seconds, the third fastest performance every seen on the seaside course.

The organisers of the Carlsbad 5000 confirmed that this year’s competition had the largest number of participants and spectators ever.