The World Athletics (WA) announced it has ratified the world 5 km record set by Ejgayehu Taye and Berihu Aregawi.
Ending their year at the Cursa dels Nassos 5 km event in Barcelona, Spain, on December 31, 2021 Ejgayehu finished the race in 14:19 to improve the women’s mixed-race record by 24 seconds, while Berihu ran in 12:49 to take two seconds off the men’s record.
With the women and men starting at the same time, Ejgayehu was able to use some of the men in the field as pacemakers. She opened up a clear gap on Sweden’s, Meraf Bahta in the early stages and went on to win in 14:19, smashing the world record of 14:43 set by Kenya’s, Beatrice Chepkoech in Monaco on February 14, 2021.
Meanwhile, Berihu had a pacemaker for the first kilometer or so, but was then left on his own, crossing the finish line in 12:49. He improved the world record of 12:51, set by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei in Monaco on February 16, 2020.
Recently, Berihu also smashed the 39th Janmeda cross country race, finishing in 31:57.65 in the elites 10km race.
