High-flying Kenyan wonder girl eyes 5,000m world record

In form, Beatrice Chebet made history at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League last year when she become the first woman to run 10,000m in under 29 minutes.

A phenomenal Chebet won in 28:54.14, in a meet that doubled up as the Paris Olympic Games trials and in the process broke Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey’s previous world record of 29:01.03 set on June 8, 2021 in Hengelo.

Needless to say, Chebet went on to make history as the first Kenyan to win double gold at the same Olympics with victories in 10,000m and 5,000m at the Paris Games.

Chebet now wants to write history again as the first woman to run 5,000m in under 14 minutes after she fell shy of breaking the world record in Rome Diamond League on Friday by a mere 3.48 seconds.

Chebet ran the second fastest time in history in her 5,000m victory in the Rome Diamond League in 14:03.69 that was also a national record and a meet record.

Pacesetter Margaret Ekidor made way for Chebet just before the sixth lap as she dropped the world 10,000m champion Tsegay Gudaf from Ethiopia to win and break the Kenyan record of 14:05.20 set by triple Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon in her Paris Diamond League victory on June 9, 2023.

Chebet also shattered the meet record of 14:12.59 that was held by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana from 2016.

The 26-year-old Chebet missed Gudaf’s world record time of 14:00.21 set at the Prefontaine Classic on September 17, 2023.

Chebet didn’t mince her words after the victory saying that her good shape demanded for a world record.

“I am capable of the world record. So now I am going home and will prepare for it. Everything is possible,” she said.

She ventured that the world record will go down if she gets someone who can push her up to 3,000m.

Chebet revealed that she wanted to try and see how fast she could go in Rome and she was impressed to run a meet and personal best.

Soon

“Soon, I am going to run under 14 minutes. I am glad to also have helped the others to achieve their personal bests and national records today,” said Chebet.

She beat Hailu Freweyni of Ethiopia to second place in personal best (PB) 14:19.33 while Italian Nadia Battocletti settled for third place in a national record time of 14:23.15. Gudaf was fifth in 14:24.86.

Interestingly, it’s Kipyegon, who had shattered the world record with victory in Paris before Gudaf erased it three months later at Prefontaine Classic. On May 25, Chebet blew away the decade old 3,000m national record on her way to victory in the second fastest time in history at Rabat Diamond League.

Perhaps this year’s Prefontaine Classic Diamond League on July 5 in Oregon, Eugene, UDSA could be the stage for the 5,000m women’s world record.

Athletics Kenya (AK) will use the championships to select the country’s men’s 10,000m and women’s 5,000m teams for this year’s World Athletics Championships scheduled for September 13 to 21 in Tokyo, Japan.

AK used last year’s Prefontaine Classic to select the men and women’s 10,000m teams for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games where Chebet won the women’s race in a world record time.

On Friday night, Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, settled for third place in the men’s 100m in 10.01.

American Trayvon Bromell fired warning shots with a world lead of 9.84 to win followed by Emmanuel Eseme from Cameroon in 9.99.

The 2019 world 1,500m champion, Timothy Cheruiyot, made his return to finish second in men’s 1,500m in a season best 3:29.75, losing the tight race to Frenchman Azeddine Habz (3:29.72).

It was heartbreak for Kenya’s Susan Ejore, who led at the bell and midway the home straight before fading badly to finish fifth in women’s 1,500m in a season best 3:59.73.

It’s Irish Sarah Healy, who won in a thrilling finish in 3:59.17 followed by Australians Sarah Billings (3:59.24) and Abbey Cadwell (3:59.32), all career best times.