Another knife edge battle between Dibaba and Defar - IAAF

09 September 2006

Stuttgart added a new chapter to the epic battle between Ethiopian distance running stars Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar. This time Dibaba made up for last week’s defeat in Berlin by Defar which cost her an additional $125,000 Golden League Jackpot bonus in a photo-finish sprint to the finish-line more reminiscent of a 100m sprint race than a 5000m encounter. Dibaba edged out Defar by just one hundredth of a second (16:04.77 to 16:04.78).

“God was with me helping to win the sprint against Meseret,” said Dibaba. “After Berlin I was not afraid of her and another possible sprint-finish.”