Letesenbet Gidey breaks two-day old world record in women's 10,000m

Ethiopian long-distance runner Letesenbet Gidey rewrote a two-day-old 10,000m world record when she clocked 29:01.03 at the Ethiopian Olympic Trials in Hengelo, Netherlands.

Letesenbet Gidey shaved 5.79 seconds off Sifan Hassan’s record, which was set on Sunday, June 6. Incidentally, Hassan set the record at the same Hengelo track.

Tsigie Gebreselama came second with a time of 30:06.01 while Tsehay Gemechu finished third at 30:19.29.

Letesenbet Gidey first woman in 28 years to hold 5,000m and 10,000m world records

Letesenbet Gidey looked completely in control from the start, recording 72-second laps and saving her best for the final one. Despite having to navigate other runners towards the end, Gidey clocked just 63 seconds for the final lap to finish in world record timing.

Gidey clocked 5:54 for 2000m and finished 3000m in 8:50 before reaching the half-way stage at 14:42. She soon started to up the ante and crossed the 7000m mark in 20:32 before unleashing her best for the final stages.

Letesenbet Gidey became the first woman in 28 years to hold both the 5,000m and the 10,000m world records. Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway earlier held the record for both 5,000m and 10,000m from 1986 to 1993.

In a post-race interview, the 23-year-old Gidey told news agency AP:

“I expected to run a world record. I’d like to try to break the world record again and break 29 minutes."

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In the past few days, a total of half-a-minute has been taken off the 10,000m world record timing set by Almaz Ayana at the Rio Olympics.

On Sunday, it was Sifan Hassan, an Ethiopian-born Dutchwoman, who had shaved 10.63 seconds off Almaz Ayana's time while Letesenbet Gidey rewrote it a mere two days later.

WORLD RECORD!Letesenbet Gidey breaks Sifan Hassan's two-day-old 10,000m world record with 29:01.03. pic.twitter.com/DJIxauju2L

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) June 8, 2021

Before Almaz Ayana’s feat, China’s Wang Junxia held the world record with a time of 29:31.78 in 1993.

With the advent of new-shoe spike technology and pacing lights on track, all four men’s and women’s 5000m and 10,000m world records have been broken in the last 10 months.