The world 5km records set by Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye and Berihu Aregawi last year have been ratified.
Ending their year at the Cursa dels Nassos 5km event in Barcelona on 31 December, Taye won in 14:19 to improve the women’s mixed-race record by 24 seconds, while Aregawi ran 12:49 to take two seconds off the men’s record.
With the women and men starting at the same time, Taye was able to use some of the men in the field as pacemakers. She opened up a clear gap on Sweden’s Meraf Bahta in the early stages and went on to win in 14:19, smashing the world record of 14:43 which had been set by Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech in Monaco on 14 February 2021.
Aregawi, meanwhile, had a pacemaker for company for the first kilometer or so, but was then out on his own. Crossing the finish line in 12:49, he improved the world record of 12:51 which had been set by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei in Monaco on 16 February 2020.