Chebet smashes 5K world record

She came, she saw and she conquered; an alien passed through Barcelona; it is true that the world record of 14:13 set by herself last year seemed to be numbered, but the demonstration of power signed by this 24-year-old Kenyan puts an end to all the adjectives in the dictionary; the most optimistic, including those around her, had predicted a sub-14, which meant the historic fact that a woman, for the first time in history, would cover 5000m in less than 840 seconds.
Perfectly guided by the Latvian Dmitijs Sergojins, Chebet came out like a flash and from the first stages she showed a limitless determination that was reflected in the successive passing times; the first kilometre, taken in approximately 2:46, made it clear that the record was running out of minutes; Behind them, Ethiopians Medina Eisa and Melknat Wudu, plus Ugandan Belinda Chemutai, had also set off in a frenetic manner, in Eisa's quest to improve her world record of 14:38 under the U-20 mark. Chebet continued with her unstoppable pace, always under 2:50, to reach the third kilometre in 8:24, a hellish pace of 14:00 for 5K: the record was already decided.
Shortly after this third part, Sergojins finished his duties as pacemaker and Chebet, far from slowing down, even increased her pace, always travelling in the company of male athletes of her level; the fourth kilometre of the Kenyan star was sublime, marking 2:44 to secure the new record, the only question being how many seconds she would beat it by; Finally, after a final 500m in 1:21, Chebet, beaten by only 10 male athletes, broke the tape in an incredible 13:54, making history in Barcelona; to put her feat in context, it is enough to point out that her time improves by 6 seconds the world record for 5000m held by the Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, while Chebet herself has a best time of 14:05.92.
In Barcelona she made it clear that she is a woman of doubles: double world cross country champion, double Olympic champion in Paris and double world record in Barcelona, ​​who gives more? In statements to El Mundo Deportivo (Xavi González-Amat), the Kenyan, 24 years old, declared: "I am very happy, everything went great; I love running in Barcelona and it is the best way to end the year; Now I will focus on my big goal for 2025, which is the World Championships in Tokyo, where I would like to win the gold medals in 5000 and 10,000m.” Judging by what was seen today in Barcelona, ​​her goal seems more than achievable. Chebet’s was not the only world record, as Eisa shaved no less than 15 seconds off her own world under-20 record for the distance with 14:23, just a few hours after leaving the category, while Chemutai completed the podium by greatly improving her personal best to 14:36. The European specialists were very good: Belgian Jana Van Lent, who recently finished 5th in the European cross-country championships in Antalya, was the best in the old continent with 15:24, compared to 15:27 for her compatriot Elise Vanderelst, while French Agathe Guillemot, 9th over 1500m at the Paris Olympics, and Esther Guerrero came in next, with times of 15:31 and 15:32, a very interesting improvement of 13 seconds for the Banyoles native and a Catalan record.

The men's race, which was obviously overshadowed by Chebet's feat, saw the initial dominance of the favourite, Kenyan Matthew Kipkoech Kipruto, who, in the absence of pacemakers, imposed his pace from the start to cross the first kilometre in 2:36, a few metres ahead of Puerto Rican Victor Ortiz Rivera, Spanish 10K record holder Abdessadam Oukhelfen and the surprising Frenchman Pierrik Jocteur Monrozier.
Kipruto, the current world under-20 bronze medallist in cross country, continued his solo gallop but his pace lost momentum as the kilometres passed, clocking 8:02 when he reached third place, while Oukhelfen and Monrozier were dangerously close to him; The Kenyan still arrived in the lead at the final 500m, but a last desperate attack by the Frenchman was about to reverse the order at the finish line, although the young Kipruto managed to maintain the lead and break the winner's tape, thus improving on his second place from last year with 13:28, the same time as Monrozier, while Oukhelfen completed the podium, as in 2023, with 13:30.
Don't say Cursa dels Nassos, say world record.