Letesenbet Gidey lowered the women’s 10,000m world record just two days after Sifan Hassan set the mark on the same track.
Gidey clocked 29 minutes, 1.03 seconds at the Ethiopian Olympic trials, which is being held in the Netherlands. Tsigie Gebreselama was second in 30:06.01. Gidey took 5.79 seconds off Hassan’s record set at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games.
Hassan, an Ethiopia-born Dutch runner, had bettered the previous record (Ethiopian Almaz Ayanas’ winning time at the 2016 Rio Olympics) by 10.63 seconds.
“I expected to run a world record,” said the 23-year-old Gidey, who became the first woman to hold both the 5,000 and 10,000 world records since Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway did so from 1986 to 1993. “I’d like to try to break the world record again and break 29 minutes.”
Gidey broke the 5,000m world record last October.
All four men’s and women’s 5,000 and 10,000 world records have been broken over the last 10 months, thanks in part to pacing lights on the track. On Tuesday, the blue lights on the inside of the track were moving at a world record pace.
