Dejen Gebremeskel wins 3000m in Boston with one shoe (© Victah Sailer)
Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel, the London 2012 Olympic Games men’s 5000m silver medallist, has been added to the outstanding men’s 3000m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on 8 February, organisers for the IAAF Indoor Permit Meeting announced on Thursday (30).
The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix will take place at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College and is the fourth of this winter’s six IAAF Indoor Permit meetings. The series commences in the German city of Karlsruhe this Saturday (1)
Gebremeskel, who also won the 5000m bronze medal at the 2011 IAAF World Championships, is well-known in ‘The Reggie’. He will be racing at the venue for a fifth consecutive year, a streak that includes his famous 3000m win over Great Britain’s Mo Farah in 2011, in which he raced almost the entire way in just one shoe.
In addition to his previously announced compatriot Hagos Gebrhiwet, who set a world junior record when winning the 300m at this meeting last year, Gebremeskel will face Canada’s Cam Levins, who recently set a national indoor record over 5000m at nearby Boston University on 16 January.
Into the bargain, Kenya’s Sam Chelanga has been added to the men's 3000m field.
Chelanga ran a 5000m personal best of 13:04.35 at Boston University on 16 January when finishing one place in front of Levins to move up to 10th on the world indoor all-time list for the distance.
There is also the classy US distance runner Garrett Heath, who upset both Kenenisa Bekele and Asbel Kiprop to win the BUPA Great Edinburgh Cross Country 4km race earlier this month.
Donn Cabral, Andrew Bumbalough and Ryan Hill, the latter a 2013 World Championships finalist over 5000m, complete a quartet of good Americans in this event.
Making their New Balance Indoor Grand Prix debuts will be the ‘first couple’ of combined events, Ashton Eaton and Brianne Thiesen-Eaton. Eaton, who will run the 60m, is the Olympic and world champion and world record holder in the decathlon; his wife, who will compete in the long jump and pace the 1000m, is the 2013 World Championships heptathlon silver medallist.
Kenya’s Sally Kipyego, who won silver medals at both the 2012 Olympic Games and 2011 World Championships over 10,000m, will face the USA’s Jordan Hasay over two miles.
USA’s Ajee Wilson, the 2012 World Junior Championships gold medallist and 2013 World Championships finalist at 800m, will run the 1000m while fellow US runner Kim Conley will contest the 2000m, and the latter is in great form after running a scorching 4:24.54 mile last weekend, the second-fastest time in the world since 2010.
Now in its 19th year, the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix has played host to six world records and 10 US records.
Organisers for the IAAF
