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Ethiopia’s Ayana races to world record win in 10,000m
RIO DE JANEIRO: Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana smashed the world record to win the Olympic 10,000 metres title on Friday, blowing away the competition in one of the greatest
RIO DE JANEIRO: Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana smashed the world record to win the Olympic 10,000 metres title on Friday, blowing away the competition in one of the greatest ever long-distance races at the Games.
In only her second competitive 10,000m, Ayana dominated from the start and halfway through the race she surged away from the leading pack, injecting staggering pace to finish in 29 minutes 17.45 seconds.
Her time was 14 seconds inside the 29:31.78 set by China’s Wang Junxia in 1993. “This means everything to me,” Ayana said later. “Getting to this point is a dream come true, I never thought it would happen and I’m so in awe.”
It was the first time in seven years that a female athlete had run 10,000m in under 30 minutes and the first four all achieved the feat. The first 13 women across the line clocked personal bests, including five national records.
Kenya’s world 10,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot tried in vain to keep up with Ayana but had to settle for silver while Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba, the defending champion, grabbed bronze. All three women ran inside the old Olympic 10,000m record. Ayana’s time was even more astonishing because it was set at the Olympics where races tend to be cagey, tactical affairs and long-distance records are rarely broken.
