Sep 14, 2007, 20:10 GMT
Brussels - Ethiopian Olympic and world champion Meseret Defar on Friday night bettered her own world record over two miles by more than 10 seconds during the Golden League meeting in Brussels, while US star Sanya Richards stayed on track for the jackpot.
400m star Richards and Russian pole vaulter Jelena Isinbajeva are the only two athletes who still have a chance of winning the one million dollar jackpot that is awarded to the athlete winning his or her event at all six Golden League meets.
Richards, who last week in Zurich ran a season-best 49.36 seconds over 400m, did even better in Brussels, winning in a time of 49.29 sec, beating Briton Nicola Sanders and Jamaican Novlene Williams into second and third place.
If the 22-year old manages to win the event on Sunday in Berlin, she will either win the jackpot outright or share it with Isinbajeva.
Earlier 23-year-old Defar ran the two-miles, which is not a very common event at athletic meets, in a time of eight minutes 58.58 seconds, beating the record she established in May this year of nine minutes 10.47 seconds.
It was the 12th world record broken in the 31-year history of the Brussels athletic meeting Memorials Ivo van Damme.
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