Defar will compete in five Golden League meetings this summer

The Olympic 5,000m champion improved her personal best by over four seconds as she won in 14 minutes 24.53sec, pipping the old record of 14:24.68.

"When I saw the one lap to go split, I was very confident," Defar said later through an interpreter.

"I'm very happy with this year. I will try to break the record again. I know I can do it."

Defar made light of the wet conditions to improve the previous mark set by Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey in Norway in 2004 by 15 hundredths of a second.

Pipped to the world title by compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba in Helsinki last year, Defar said she had been working with Haile Gebrselassie during a training camp in the Netherlands.

"He encouraged me. He said, 'I know you can break the record,'" she added.

Already the African record holder, Defar said she would compete in five more Golden League meetings this season over either 5,000m or 3,000m.

"I hope I win all of them," she said.

Workitu Ayanu of Ethiopia finished second in 14:50.51 with American Sara Slattery some distance back in third with 15:24.01.