Athletics

Kenya's Beatrice Chebet smashes women's 5km world record in Barcelona

Kenya's Beatrice Chebet. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

By Agency | Sunday, December 31, 2023

The 23-year-old improved on the previous women-only world record of 14:29 set by Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi in Herzogenaurach on September 12, 2021.

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.

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Taye finished second behind Chebet on this occasion, clocking 14:21, while Kenya’s Lilian Kasait Rengeruk was third in 14:25 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 14:27.

Prior to her world 5km title win in Riga, Chebet also claimed the world cross-country crown in Bathurst in February and won the world 5,000m bronze in Budapest in August.