Ethiopian Meseret Defar has the first woman to successfully defend her title in the 22-year history of the Carlsbad 5000 in Carlsbad, California, USA, reports Ian Monahan for the IAAF .
The 23-year-old Olympic 5000m track champion, in her fifth appearance at the 5km road race, won in a time of 15:01, falling short in her attempt at also breaking the unofficial World best for the second year in a row.
Defar broke the unofficial World best at Carlsbad last year, shattering the previous mark by five seconds when she ran 14:46. She had hoped to run 14:40 this year.
"I felt good, I felt strong," Defar said of her performance Sunday. "Sometimes, it's just like this."
American Jen Rhines, 32, finished second (15:21), in front of Ethiopian Aheza Kiros, who was third in 15:25.
