World champion Beatrice Chebet ended her year on a high by running 14:13 to smash the women’s world 5km record at the Cursa dels Nassos, a World Athletics Label road race, in Barcelona on Sunday.
The Kenyan 23-year-old improved on the previous women-only world record of 14:29 set by Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi in Herzogenaurach on 12 September 2021, while her performance is also faster than the women’s world record set in a mixed race of 14:19, achieved by Ethiopia’s Ejegayehu Taye at the 2021 Cursa dels Nassos.
Taye finished second behind Chebet on this occasion, clocking 14:21, while Kenya’s Lilian Kasait Rengeruk was third in 14:26 as the top three – all 5km medallists at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 in October – dipped under the previous women-only world record mark. Uganda’s Joy Cheptoyek was also inside that mark, finishing fourth in 14:28.
Ethiopia’s 18-year-old Medina Eisa was fifth in 14:40 – the fastest ever women’s 5km by an U20 athlete.
Prior to her world 5km title win in Riga, Chebet also claimed the world cross country crown in Bathurst in February and won world 5000m bronze in Budapest in August.
