Agnes Jebet Ngetich smashes 29min barrier for 10km

Kenyan takes almost half a minute off Yalemzerf Yehualaw’s women’s world record as she runs 28:46 in Valencia

Agnes Jebet Ngetich has become the first woman to break the 29-minute barrier for 10km after clocking a scintillating 28:46 on the roads of Valencia on Sunday (Jan 14).

The 22-year-old Kenyan took 28 seconds off Yalemzerf Yehualaw’s world record of 29:14, which was set in Castellon, Spain, in 2022. After passing halfway in a reported split of 14:12, Ngetich is also thought to have broken Beatrice Chebet’s world 5km record 14:13, which was set two weeks ago in Barcelona.

Runner-up Emmaculate Achol was also under Yehualaw’s record as the Kenyan clocked 28:57 to become the second woman to break the 29min barrier.

Lilian Rengeruk of Kenya was third in 29:32 as Britain’s Jess Warner-Judd clocked 30:41 to take 25 seconds off her best as she moved to No.4 on the UK all-time rankings. With 31:22 Megan Keith also ran a PB to go No.7 on the UK all-time rankings.

“I was not expecting a world record,” said Ngetich. “I was only coming here to improve my time. But I am now so happy. I didn’t expect this.”

Agnes Jebet Ngetich becomes the first woman to break the 29min barrier in a 10km.

The Kenyan clocks an incredible 28:46 in Valencia to break the world record by almost half a minute. pic.twitter.com/p755XU5SB5

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) January 14, 2024

Once again the self-styled “ciudad del running” delivered as Ngetich ran faster on the roads for 10km than the great Emil Zatopek managed for the distance on the track. In fact Ngetich is now more than a minute quicker than another male distance running legend, Paavo Nurmi.

Ngetich finished sixth in the world 10,000m final in Budapest last year and took bronze in the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst. She plans to run this year’s World Cross in Belgrade in March before aiming for the Paris Olympics.

Her best time for 10km on the roads prior to her record-breaking run was 29:26, set in Lille in November, with a PB of 31:34.83 on the track. Her best 5000m is 14:36.70 but she has clearly improved a lot this winter as she won the race in Valencia by 11 seconds.

Improvements in women’s world records in distance running have been huge in recent years. In the early 1970s the top women ran just 37 minutes for 10km on the roads although the great Grete Waitz of Norway took the world best down to 31:32 in 1983.

Liz McColgan was the first woman to break 31 minutes on the road with 30:39 in 1989. Fellow Brit Paula Radcliffe ran 30:21 in 2003 before Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenyan clocked 29:43 in 2017, Kalkidan Gezahegne of Bahrain 29:48 in 2021 and Yehualaw 29:14 two years ago.

Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda won the men’s race on Sunday in 26:46 from Birhanu Balew of Bahrain, who ran 26:56 as Dominic Lobalu of Switzerland ran a European record of 27:12 and Abdessamad Oukhelfen clocked a Spanish record of 27:43.

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