adminVALENCIA. — Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei smashed the men’s 10 000m world record as Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey broke that of the women’s 5 000m in Valencia on Wednesday night.
Cheptegei (24) clocked 26 minutes 11.00 seconds to beat Kenenisa Bekele’s 15-year-old time by more than six seconds.
The achievement capped an outstanding 12 months for Cheptegei who won the gold medal in the 10 000 at last year’s World Championships in Doha, and in August took Bekele’s 5 000m record at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
Last December, also in Valencia, Cheptegei smashed a decade-long record in 10km road racing by six seconds.
Cheptegei’s outstanding display finished off a perfect event from the organisers point of view after Gidey, 22 broke the women’s 5 000 metres world record by more than four seconds.
Gidey (22) clocked 14 minutes 6.62 seconds to better the 14mins 11.15secs set by Tirunesh Dibaba in 2008.
They achieved the feats at the NN Valencia World Record Day, a one-off event taking place in the Spanish city.
“I’m happy,” said Gidey, who won 10 000m silver at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. “This has been a long-time dream. It is very big for me.”
Bekele’s previous world record time of 26mins 17.53secs had been the longest standing men’s 10 000m world record in history.
Cheptegei’s success marks his fourth world record in 10 months, having broken the 10km road best in December and the 5km road record in February.
At the Monaco Diamond League in August, he broke another of Bekele’s world records, beating his 16-year-old mark in the 5 000m by two seconds.
The World Record Day, in which both Cheptegei and Gidey had pacemakers, took place at Valencia’s Turia stadium with 400 people present.
Only 400 people including sponsors, journalists and staff were allowed into the event due to strict coronavirus measures in Spain but Cheptegei still savoured the moment with a lap of honour, wrapped in the Uganda flag and wearing a crown.
Gidey easily beat the previous record of 14:11.15 set by her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba in Oslo in 2008.
The event was organised by Cheptegei’s NN Running Team of the Netherlands and he and Gidey were helped to the finish line by pacers as well as Wavelight technology, which flashes lights on the inside of the track to indicate a specific pace.
— AFP.
Online Reporter