Eugene (United States) (AFP) – Beatrice Chebet shattered the women’s 5,000m world record Saturday with a groundbreaking time of 13min 58.06sec as fellow Kenyan Faith Kipyegon lowered her own 1,500m global record at the Diamond League athletics meeting in Eugene, Oregon. Chebet, Olympic gold medallist at 5,000 and 10,000m in Paris last year, delivered a devastating finish to become the first woman to break the 14-minute barrier in the 5,000.
The 25-year-old said she was inspired by her own strong showing in Rome last month and by Kipyegon’s ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful bid to become the first woman to break four minutes for the mile just over a week ago in Paris. “In Rome I was just running to win a race, but after running 14:03, I said that I’m capable of running a world record,” she said. “When I was coming here to Eugene, I was coming to prepare to run a world record, and I said I have to try. I said ‘If Faith is trying, why not me?'”
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The leading group of Chebet, Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, and Kenyan Agnes Jebet Ngetich had fallen off world record pace with several laps remaining, but Chebet mustered a last mighty kick on the final lap. Jebet Ngetich was second in 14:01.29, and Tsegay — who set the previous world record of 14:00.21 on the same Hayward Field track in September 2023 — was third in 14:04.41.
Kipyegon, the three-time reigning Olympic champion, won the 1,500m in 3:48.68, improving on the record of 3:49.04 she set in July 2024. The 31-year-old Kenyan was running her first 1,500m of the season, having come up short in her bid for mile history in a special event in Paris. Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji finished second in 3:51.44, overhauling Australia’s Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull, who had stuck to Kipyegon until the final lap but settled for third in 3:52.67. “This was really special,” Kipyegon said. “After what I tried last week, it gave me motivation that I can still do better.”
With the World Championships looming in Tokyo on September 13-21, Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson and American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden continued their stellar sprint campaigns with 100m victories. Olympic silver medallist Thompson clocked 9.85sec to win the men’s 100m, confidently following up on his blistering 9.75sec at the Jamaican national trials that made him the sixth-fastest man all-time at the distance. Thompson easily out-paced Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (9.91) and American Trayvon Bromell (9.94) and said the race was another learning experience as he gears up for an expected world title tilt against American Noah Lyles — who bested him by just .005sec for Olympic gold in Paris. “I’m the only one that can stop me,” Thompson said. “I don’t say that to brag but to be honest. Once I better my execution, amazing things are going to happen.”
Jefferson-Wooden outdueled Olympic champion Julien Alfred in the women’s 100m, holding off the Saint Lucia star to win in 10.75sec. That was just outside her season-leading 10.73 set at the Philadelphia Grand Slam Track event, but impressive in a headwind of -1.5 meters per second. Alfred was second in 10.77, and Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith came third in 10.90. American Sha’Carri Richardson, who revealed this week that an injury in February had slowed her season start, finished ninth in 11.19sec.
Sweden’s two-time Olympic champion Armand “Mondo” Duplantis won the pole vault with a leap of 6.00m. Duplantis finished comfortably ahead of Americans Sam Kendricks and Austin Miller, who took second and third with clearances of 5.80m, but he came up empty on three attempts to better the world record of 6.28m that he set in Stockholm three weeks ago.
In addition to records, there were multiple world-leading performances. Rising Ethiopian talent Biniam Mehary, 18, won the 10,000m in 26:43.82. Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo won the 200m in 19.76sec and Bahrain’s Olympic champion Winfred Yavi threatened a world record on the way to a world-leading 8:45.25 in the 3,000m steeplechase. Rudy Winkler set an American record in winning the hammer with a throw of 83.16m, American Joe Kovacs won the shot put at 22.48m, and Olympic long jump gold medallist Tara Davis-Woodhall equalled the season’s best with a 7.07m leap.
© 2024 AFP
