Worldcross country silver medallist Berihu Aregawi stormed to a 26:33 10km win in the northern Spanish town of Laredo.
In doing so, the Ethiopian 22-year-old achieved the second-fastest men’s 10km of all time behind Rhonex Kipruto’s world record of 26:24 set in Valencia three years ago. He also broke the Ethiopian record by 23 seconds.
Aregawi is the world record-holder for 5km, a feat he managed in Barcelona on 31 December 2021 thanks to a 12:49 run, and he had set his sights on the 10km world record since then.
Contesting only his second ever 10km race and wearing his usual orange and blue outfit, Aregawi overtook the pacemaker just before the first kilometre mark then went through the halfway point in 13:10, a world record on track.
Despite running without a pacemaker and being hampered by slightly rainy conditions, a brave final effort of 2:36 for the closing kilometre, he was just outside his goal.
“I have mixed feelings as the race was great but I had set the goal of breaking the world record,” he said. “Running on my own for almost the whole race was not easy but the main handicap for me was the tight turns as the road was wet and I was afraid of slipping at the zebra crossings. But anyway, I’m really satisfied.”
Wayback, the 22-year-old ethiopian-Irish Efrem Gidey beat his rivals in the chasing pack after a thrilling sprint to take the runner-up spot in 28:17 to Mortimer’s 28:18, while Spanish 3000m steeplechase record-holder Carro was given the same time in fourth.