World Champion Kenenisa Bekele set a new 10,000 metres world record on Friday when he broke the previous best set by himself in Ostrava last year. Competing in the Brussels Golden League meeting on 26^th August, the Ethiopian athlete smashed the 10,000 metres record at the 29^th Van Damme Memorial meeting by finishing in 26 minutes 17.53 seconds.

"It was more than just perfection tonight," said Kenenisa. "I am proud rather than happy."

“It is not very easy. It is not a good summer for me. But I can not do anything about that. It is in the past,” he said, in reference to the tragic death of his fiancee, Alem Techale, in January.

Kenenisa broke the previous best of 26:20.31 which he set in Ostrava, Czech Republic in June 2004. His brother, Tariku, help set the pace and took him through to the halfway mark, leaving Kenesisa to run on his own for almost half the race.

Meanwhile the Ethiopian women’s team again achieved a clean sweep of the top three positions in the 5,000 metres, building on their fantastic success at the Helsinki World Championships.

Meseret Defar led the team home, finishing in 14 minutes 28.98 seconds, followed by Berhane Adere in 14:31.09 and Ejegayehu Dibaba in 14:37.34.

ENDS