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Posted: February 20, 2004 Athletics: Birmingham Preview: Geb Goes For Two Mile Record From David Monti (c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved < RaceResultsWeekly.com> By Bob Ramsak A few days after running the sixth fastest indoor 3000m race ever, Haile Gebrselassie admitted that he's losing his speed. Which is why, he said, he would like to do "something special" at tomorrow night's Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham, England. A year ago at the same meeting, Gebrselassie set his 17th world record, clocking 8:04.69 in the rarely-run 2 mile race. It what will likely be the Ethiopian's final indoor appearance in England, he's aiming to lower his own mark. "There is no question of how important it would be if I can break the world record," he said. Joining Gebrselassie in the race will be compatriots Markos Geneti and Abiyote Abate, and Kenyan David Lelei, but not Geb's heir apparent, mercurial Kenenisa Bekele, who will run the 5000m instead. All the distance events feature solid fields. With one of the strongest fields in recent memory, the women's 3000m pits double world indoor record holder Berhane Adere of Ethiopia against reigning Olympic 5000m champion Gabriela Szabo of Romania. Adere has been on fire this season. Four days after knocking more than eight seconds from Szabo's 5000m world record, the Ethiopian posted an 8:33.05 win in the 3000m in Dortmund, the fifth fastest clocking ever. Only she and Szabo have ever run faster indoors. For Szabo, who hasn't raced since finishing 11th at the world championship 5000m last August, Friday's race will provide a strong test of her early season fitness as her Olympic defense approaches. This will be the 29-year-old Romanian's first indoor race since March 10, 2001, when she finished second to Olga Yegorova at the world indoor championships. Szabo won the previous three world indoor titles over the distance. Also in the field are adidas Boston Indoor games winner Meseret Defar, world outdoor 5000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba, and Briton Jo Pavey, who ran a national record 8:43.23 in her first-ever indoor race less than two weeks ago. In the men's 1500m, Ivan Heshko, the current world leader after his 3:35.15 Ukrainian national record last weekend, and Paul Korir, the current world leader in the mile (3:53.26), will meet head-on. Defending world indoor champion Driss Maazouzi of France, who was on an early startlist, is an apparent scratch. Training partners Maria Mutola and Kelly Holmes lead the pack in the 1000m, billed as an assault on Jo Fenn's 2:38.45 British record set on this track last year. This should be one of the few meetings between Mutola and Holmes, last year's 1-2 finishers in the world championships 800m. American Jen Toomey, who has a pair of PB's to her credit already this season, and Fenn, a part-time country music singer, are in the field as well. NOTE: In Monday's RRW, it was incorrectly reported that Bekele and Gebrselassie would both run the 2 mile. We regret the error --Ed. Startlists (As of 19-Feb) -- Men - 1500m:
5000M:
Women
3000M:
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