Motunde Smith
Ethiopian distance runner Yalemzerf Yehualaw smashed the world 10km record at the Castellón 10K, clocking 29:14 at the World Athletics Label road race in the Spanish coastal city on Sunday.
In doing so, the world half marathon bronze medallist improved the ratified record of 29:43 by Joyciline Jepkosgei and the yet-to-be-ratified mark of 29:38 set last year by Bahrain’s Kalkidan Gezahegne.
The 22-year-old also becomes the first woman in history to dip under the 29:30 and 29:20 barriers on the roads.
Running alongside men in the mixed race, Yehualaw covered the first 5km in 14:28 – the second-fastest clocking in history for that distance. Her pace dropped only slightly in the second half, which was covered in 14:46.
On the track, only two women have bettered Yehualaw’s time: her compatriot Letesenbet Gidey (29:01:03) and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands (29:06.82).
