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WATCH: Ethiopian runner stops a lap early but still runs a world lead

Diribe Welteji thought she had a ridiculous record until she realized she had one lap left

athing mu Photo by: Kevin Morris

On Sunday at the Meeting de l’Eure, an indoor meet Val-de-Reuil, France, Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji thought she had finished, but in fact she still had one lap to go. She came to a full stop before realizing she had one lap left, yet still won the race in a world-leading time of 8:33.43 for 3,000m.

In the indoor 3,000m, it is easy to become confused with where you are in the race, since you have to do 15 laps of a 200m track. Weljeti must have thought she had smashed the 3,000m world record when she saw sub-eight on the clock; thankfully, the pacer reminded her that she had one lap to go. 

According to our calculations, she stopped for eight to 12 seconds before starting up again. Her time would’ve ranked top 10 all-time if it wasn’t for her stopping too early.

Weljeti, 20, is an up-and-coming middle-distance runner from Ethiopia. At the 2018 World U20 Championships in Finland, she won the women’s 800m as a 16-year-old, running 1:59.74, standing as the second fastest 800m time by a 16-year-old.

At the 2022 World Championships, she placed fourth in the 800m final behind Athing Mu, Keely Hodgkinson and Mary Moraa of Kenya.

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