Genzebe Dibaba to attempt the mile world record at Bislett

Genzebe Dibaba goes world record hunting in Scandinavia this June and will attempt to break two world records in a week. Her first race will be at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games on 9 June where her aim is set at the “Dream Mile” world record. Then she travels on to the next IAAF Diamond League event, the Bauhaus-galan in Stockholm on 16 June, where she will try to improve her own 1500 metres world record.

Perhaps Genzebe Dibaba is the most famous female athlete in the world today. Since achieving some prodigious world record breaking on the indoor circuit over the past couple of seasons, the youngest of three famous Ethiopian running sisters last year finally broke through for something that was very personally rewarding; a world record at the Olympic distance of 1500m.

This event’s world record had long been considered untouchable (held by the Chinese athlete Yunxia Qu with a time of 3:50.46) and nobody had managed to get anywhere near that mark in the last 20 years. Not until Dibaba attacked the record with such commitment and courage in Monaco last year. Her final time was a staggering world record of 3:50.07

Since that performance, she has become world champion at 1500m and world indoor champion at 3000m. Both title victories were achieved with ridiculous ease and clearly 2016 promises to be an even better year for Genzebe Dibaba.

Now she returns to the spiritual home of the mile on the world athletics stage. People in sport refer to the mile and it is synonymous with Oslo and Bislett stadium―the records, the fast times and indeed the memorable races. So many world records, so many national records, so many personal bests and all with that traditional support from the knowledgeable Bislett crowd that has spurred on athletes for decades.

It is all part of the character that is Oslo, it’s time honoured Bislett track and it all awaits Genzebe Dibaba as she returns to Norway with the mile firmly on her radar.