ATHLETICS

The current 3,000m indoor world record is 7:24.90, set by Kenyan Daniel Komen on February 6, 1998 in Hungary's capital Budapest. It has not been touched since then. 

Last year, Ethiopian Getnet Wale came so close to doing so, when he crossed the line first in 7:24.98, missing it by only microseconds. How close! 

In that same race inside Arena Stade Couvert in Lievin, a commune in France, Wale's compatriot Selemon Barega came in second with a time of 7:26.10.

Barega will now be returning to Lievin next month (February 17) with his sights firmly set on the big one. The world record. The 21-year-old has made it known that he will be out to break Komen's long-standing record.

He will be attempting this at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais – a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting.

In an eventful year (2021), Barega, who hails from a rural farm in southern Ethiopia, followed up his indoor silver with 1,500m victory at World Indoor Tour meetings in Torun (Poland) and Madrid (Spain).

He then topped it up with Olympic 10,000m gold in Tokyo (Japan), a race in which he beat the equally sensational Ugandan pair of Joshua Cheptegei (silver) and Jacob Kiplimo (bronze).

Selemon Barega took Olympic 10,000m gold in Tokyo ahead of Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo

With that series of recent achievements, Barega is pumped up on taking on Komen's 24-year-old 3,000m indoor record. Will he do it? It is only a month until we know.

Meanwhile, it will be a busy second half of February for the Ethiopian distance runner.

Four days after his shot at the world record in Lievin, Barega will take part in the Copernicus Cup in Torun on February 22. There, he is set to be joined by Wale and Lamecha Girma, who finished third behind his compatriots in Lievin in 2021.

Girma, who is 21, clocked 7:27.98 in that race. 

His time placed him among the exclusive class of only 10 men to have run under 7:30 at the 3,000m indoors. Six of these are Ethiopian and four are Kenyan - traditional distance running rivals.