World Athletics ratifies Chebet, Chepng'etich records
Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich poses for a photo after after winning the Chicago Marathon in a new world record time of 2:09:56 on October 13, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Other records ratified by World Athletics include the USA's mixed relay 4x400m team, who set a new mark of 3:07.41 in Paris, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis with his men’s pole vault record of 6.25m in the Paris Olympic Games, USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.37, and Japan’s Masatora Kawano, who clocked 2:21:47 in the men’s 35km race walk.
World Athletics has officially ratified the world record-breaking performances of Kenyan duo Beatrice Chebet and Ruth Chepng'etich.
Chebet set the new 10,000m record during the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League in Eugene, USA, in May, becoming the first woman to run under 29 minutes with a time of 28:54.14. The previous record was held by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who clocked 29:01.03 in Hengelo, the Netherlands, in 2021.
Competing in the 10,000m for the first time, Chebet had aimed to qualify for the Olympic Games. She followed Ethiopia’s Tsegay Gudaf, who was aided by pacemakers and wave lights. When Gudaf slowed, Chebet decided to continue with the wave lights and ultimately broke the record.
“I had no intention of running a world record, but when Tsegay slowed a little bit, I decided to try my luck and I’m happy I won and broke the world record,” said Chebet in an earlier interview.
Meanwhile, Chepng'etich set a new marathon record with her outstanding performance at the Chicago Marathon in October, clocking 2:09:56 and becoming the first woman to run under 2 hours and 10 minutes. The Ngong-based runner maintained a strong pace from start to finish.
“I wanted to break the record from the word go, though I didn’t make it public and surprised my pacemakers the day before the race,” Chepng'etich said.
“I went to the pacemakers the evening before the race, and they were surprised when I told them that we have to cross the half mark at 65:00 and the second half clock should stop after 64:00 minutes. No one else knew my plan and the next day we went for the race and I was so confident that the record would fall, but I didn’t expect 2:09.”
Chepng'etich had been chasing record-breaking performances for years, with a previous personal best of 2:18:35 in 2018, which fell short of the women’s only world record at the time held by Mary Keitany (2:17:01) by 1 minute and 38 seconds. That record was later surpassed by Peres Jepchirchir, who ran 2:16:16 at the 2023 London Marathon in April.
Over a six-year period, Kenyan Brigid Kosgei set a new record of 2:14:04 at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, only for Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa to lower it further to 2:11:53 in September 2023 at the Berlin Marathon.
Other records ratified by World Athletics include the USA's mixed relay 4x400m team, who set a new mark of 3:07.41 in Paris, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis with his men’s pole vault record of 6.25m in the Paris Olympic Games, USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.37, and Japan’s Masatora Kawano, who clocked 2:21:47 in the men’s 35km race walk.
