PARIS (AFP) - Olympic champion Ruth Jebet of Bahrain smashed the world record in the 3,000m steeplechase, clocking 8min 52.78sec at the Diamond League meet in Paris on Saturday (Aug 27).

The 19-year-old Kenyan-born athlete, who now runs for Bahrain, obliterated the previous record of 8:58.81 achieved by Russian Gulnara Galkina at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Jebet won Olympic gold in Rio with 8:59.75, the second fastest time ever in the event, having also clocked 8:59.97 at the Eugene meet in the United States last May.

Only Galkina and Jebet have ever dipped below the nine-minute mark in the event.