Athletics-Defar smashes 3,000 indoor record

BERLIN, Feb 4 (Reuters) Ethiopia's Meseret Defar smashed the world indoor record for the 3,000 metres, clocking eight minutes 23.72 seconds in Stuttgart to take more than four seconds off the previous best time.

Defar, the Olympic 5,000m champion, was pushed all the way by compatriot Meselech Melkamu, who came in just two hundredths of a second behind her at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle.

The previous record of 8:27.86 was set last year by Russian Liliya Shobukhova in Moscow.

''Meselech was very strong,'' Defar told reporters yesterday.

''She led me to this record.'' Defar had been confident of setting a new mark after running 8:30.31 in Boston last week, despite a severe cold.

REUTERS AKJ KP0929