Paris: Ethiopian’s Letesenbet Gidey has set a new world record in the women’s 10,000m, two days after Sifan Hassan broke it on the same track in Hengelo, Netherlands.
Gidey clocked 29:01.03 at the Ethiopian Olympic Trials. She took 5.79 seconds off Hassan’s record from Sunday.
Hassan, an Ethiopian-born Dutchwoman, brought the record down 10.63 seconds from Ethiopian Almaz Ayana‘s winning time at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In total, 30.75 seconds have been taken off the world record starting with Ayana in Rio. Before that, the mark of 29:31.78 set by dubious Chinese runner Wang Junxia had stood since 1993, and nobody else had run within 22 seconds of it.
In 2019, Gidey took 10,000m silver at the world championships. In 2020, she took 4.5 seconds off countrywoman Tirunesh Dibaba‘s 12-year-old 5000m world record.
