Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ngetich broke the women’s 10km world record after clocking 28:43 at the Valencia 10km road race in Spain on Sunday.
Jebet, who trains in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County under the Ikaika Sports Management, becomes the first woman in history to break the 29-minute barrier.
Jebet broke away from the leading group with Iten-based Immaculate Anyango in tow before she increased her pace leading all the way to the finish line.
“I’m so delighted to have run my personal best which is also a world record time. I had trained well and I was in good shape coming to this race. The weather conditions were favourable and that is why I managed to register good results,” said Jebet.
“Last year my time wasn’t ratified by the World Athletics because of technical issues but that gave me enough reasons to work hard. The record is now mine and and I believe I will make the team for the World Cross Country Championships where I want to upgrade the bronze medal to either silver or gold in the senior category,” she added.
Anyango came in second clocking 28:57, while Lilian Rengeruk Kasait was third in 29:35.
In September last year, Jebet ran 29:24 minutes at the Brasov Running Festival in Romania, a world record time which wasn’t ratified because the distance was found to be less than 25 metres.
