In a race that was set up as a 10,000m world record attempt, the competitor who initially had no intention of challenging the record became the one ultimately to smash it.
Wanda Prefontaine Diamond League meeting earlier on Sunday
The record now belongs to Beatrice Chebet of Kenya, who ran 28:54.14* to become the first woman under 29 minutes on the track. That performance, achieved on Saturday (25) at the Prefontaine Classic, is seven seconds faster than the previous world record of 29:01.03 that Letesenbet Gidey established in 2021. The race opened the Wanda Diamond League meeting with an immediate roar from the Hayward Field crowd.
Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay became the third-fastest all-time performer with her runner-up finish of 29:05.92, as four women ran faster than 30 minutes. The race also doubled as the selection race for Athletics Kenya’s Paris Olympic team, and Chebet and Lilian Kasait Rengeruk (29:26.89) qualified.
In a race that took place before the Diamond League programme, Tsegay and Chebet stayed within a stride of the lights marking world record pace as they passed halfway in 14:31, until Chebet sped ahead with three laps remaining, the lead all her own, and with it the weight of a world record attempt.
Her move was motivated by seeing world 5000m record-holder Tsegay – who had initially requested a world record pace, only to decide against it because of discomfort in a foot, and change her mind again in recent days after feeling better – begin to fall behind the pace lights. Chebet said she entered the meeting to qualify for Paris, where she plans to contest both the 5000m and 10,000m, but her intent was not the record.
“When Gudaf asked for a world record, I decided to say: ‘Let me try to go for that to see how the body is.’ Because my body was not bad,” said Chebet, the two-time world cross country champion who also claimed world 5km gold last year. “I was comfortable to run a world record so when I saw Gudaf drop a bit, I said: ‘Let me try to push it to see how it can go.’ When I got to the last two laps, I just got motivated and said, I’m on a world record pace, so let me push the last 400m.”
With 800m to go, Chebet pulled ahead of the pace lights by two whole strides as fans inside Hayward Field began standing in their seats.
After the finish, Chebet fell to the track, splayed out in exhaustion, as Tsegay finished and joined her on the track. When the women stood, they hugged as the new world record flashed on the scoreboard behind them. Chebet later returned to the track wearing a ‘Stop Pre’ T-shirt, the same design that Steve Prefontaine wore at Hayward Field more than 50 years earlier.
After only her second ever 10,000m race, Chebet adds this world record to the world 5km record of 14:13 she set in Barcelona in December.
“I knew a woman could run under 29, I’ve known for a long time,” said Sifan Hassan, who entered the meeting as No.2 all-time, and now ranks fourth. Hassan believes women “can run 28:45” in the future
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