Brurundi's Niyonsaba breaks world 2,000 meters record
Burundian athlete sets new world record in women's 2,000 meters in Zagreb, Croatia
ANKARA
Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba on Tuesday won in the women's 2,000 meters in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event with a record-breaking performance of 5:21.56.
Ethiopian athletes Freweyni Gebreezibeher and Dawit Seyaum took second and third respectively with times of 5:25.86 and 5:32.40 at Boris Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb, the Croatian capital.
Niyonsaba, 28, took more than two seconds off the previous record set by Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia of 5:23.75, which was set indoors in Sabadell, Spain in 2017.
Niyonsaba, who also last week won the Wanda Diamond League title in 5,000 meters in Zurich, Switzerland, classifies as a DSD athlete – an athlete with differences in sexual development.
In 2019 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) began enforcing regulations for athletes with XY disorders of sex development (DSD), testosterone levels above 5 nmol/L, and androgen sensitivity.
Regulations forced Niyonsaba, who won the 2016 Olympic silver medal in the 800 meters, to switch to either sprinting or longer-distance events after 2019.
Her 2,000-meters win in the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold made Niyonsaba the first athlete with DSD to break a world record.
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