Girma and Katir cross the finish line after both surpassing the previous world record. FRANCOIS LO PRESTI (AFP)
The Liévin pavilion, in northern France, is a pandemonium of shouting.
More than 5,000 feverish people shout in the stands, almost hoarse now, and a few dozen more shake like a crazy uncontrollable St. Vitus dance at the edge of the two-tone blue athletics track through which they run like devils, chased by accelerated yellow lights that do not reach them and by half a dozen runners who fear that they will be reached from behind, the Ethiopian Lamecha Girma and the Spanish Mo Katir.
It is a wonderful image.
fantastic.
Neither of them lets the chaos that surrounds them distract them.
They are two athletic talents on full display.
Fluid strides, light and fast feet, long legs.
Pure class prints.
They are both on their way to a world record that nine days ago turned 25 and was believed to be eternal, the 7m 24.90s in which the Kenyan Daniel Komen, one of the greatest, ran the 3,000m on the indoor track in Budapest on the 6th February 1998. Neither Katir nor Girma had been born yet.
Mula's athlete, perhaps, after Fermín Cacho, the best Spanish middle-distance runner in history, would be born 11 days later, on February 17, almost a date that predestined him;
Girma, a 3,000m steeplechase specialist – twice world runner-up,
current Olympic runner-up-- who has been chasing Komen's record for three winters, would be born almost three years later, in November 2000. Now, that is, on the night of Wednesday the 15th in Liévin, Girma is ahead.
The last hare has finished his job at 1,800m.
There are six laps left on the track.
They have passed the first thousand in 2m 29s.
They will pass the second, slowest, in 4m 59s.
The world record is there, but they have to speed up.
Either one can beat it.
They both do it.
Either one can beat it.
They both do it.
Either one can beat it.
They both do it.
A brand that was thought to be inaccessible, with which some of the greatest in history could not, Gebrselassie, Bekele, Kipchoge, both, Girma and Katir, finally, on the same night, improve it.
Always Katir, sleeved shirt, as is his custom, tight shorts, long hair gathered in a bun, following in the footsteps of Girma, who pulls him as if he were wearing a loop by the neck.
Only one keeps it.
It is Girma, who in the last lap, finally, achieves a higher margin over the Spaniard.
He leaves it in 7m 23.81s, more than a second less.
Katir stops the clock in 7m 24.68s.
(3m 40s the first 1,500m, 3m 44s the second).
The second best world record in history.
The best European ever.
More than six seconds lower than the previous European record, which had been held for a year by another Spaniard, Adel Mechaal (7m 30.82s), as were the previous European record holders, Sergio Sánchez and Alberto García, both suspended for doping.
Katir improves by almost 11 seconds better than his previous best mark on the indoor track (7m 35.29s) and by three his best time outdoors (7m 27.64s), which is also the Spanish record, like his, of Katir , an athlete trained in Mula and in the Sierra Nevada by Gabi Llorente, are also the national record holders of 1,500m (3m 28.76s) and 5,000m (12m 50.79s).
Next Wednesday, February 22, Katir, now 25 years old, will run the rally in Madrid.
There he will end his season on the indoor track.
Katir, who will not compete in the Spanish Championship this weekend, will not participate in the European Championships in Istanbul on the first weekend of March (3-5).
The outdoor World Cup in Budapest, the last week of August, is too important for him, who was already a bronze medalist in the 1,500m at the last World Cup,
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