Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet broke the women’s 10,000m world record with a time of 28:54.14 at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday.
The 24-year-old, a two-time world championships medallist at 5,000m and a cross-country world champion, surpassed the previous record of 29:01.03 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey in Hengelo on June 8, 2021.
Chebet’s win, in a race that served as Kenya’s Olympic qualifier, immediately made her a favorite for gold at the Paris Olympics in August. In mild, overcast conditions ideal for the event, Chebet benefited from enthusiastic crowd support, the efforts of three pacemakers during the first half of the race, and the “wavelight” pace-setting technology at Hayward Field to become the first woman to run the 10,000m in under 29 minutes.
The race, which kicked off Saturday’s action but was not part of the Diamond League programme, was initially billed as a world record attempt by Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, who set the 5,000m world record at Hayward Field during the Diamond League finals last September.
Chebet, who won world 5,000m silver in Eugene in 2022 and 5,000m world bronze in Budapest last year, kept pace with Tsegay and made her move to the front at the perfect time. Tsegay finished second with a time of 29:05.92, the third-fastest time ever.
