The indoor track in Birmingham was set ablaze on Saturday when Samuel Tefera, an Ethiopian teenage athlete, broke the indoor 1,500 meters record. He beat his compatriot, Yomif Kejelcha, to the record by less than a second.
The previous record was set by the iconic Moroccan, Hicham El-Guerrouj, in 1997 at 3:31.18. The new record set by the 19-year-old Tefera comes in at 3:31.04. The new world record was set at the IAAF World Indoor Tour Meeting.
Tefera won the world title on this same track in 2018. This time Tefera pushed himself past his compatriot just after the sound of the bell to signal the last lap. From then on there was no looking back, he charged towards the finish line to set the new record.
Kejelcha, who finished second at 3:31:58, set a personal best in the event. The 21-year-old, who is also the current world 3,000 meters indoor champion, was close to setting a new record in the event only last week in New York.
It was a night of smashing records as Laura Muir from Scotland broke the British record to become the third-fastest indoor miler ever. She clocked a time of 4:18.75. The world record in that event was set by Genzebe Dibaba at 4:13.31 in 2016.
