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Kenyan clocks 13:54 at the Cursa Dels Nassos event in Barcelona on New Year’s Eve to become the first woman to run a sub-14min time for the distance
Twelve months after running a world 5km record of 14:13 in Barcelona, Beatrice Chebet returned to the same Cursa Dels Nassos race in the Spanish city to improve the mark to 13:54.
What a year it’s been for the 24-year-o
Beatrice Chebet smashes 14-minute barrier for 5km
ld from Kenya and many will think she has been hard done by in many of the Athlete of 2024 awards, many of which were decided well before the year is complete.
Beatrice Chebet
In March she won the world cross-country title in Belgrade, successfully defending the crown she won in Bathurst in 2023. At the Pre Classic in the summer, she became the first woman to run a sub-29-minute time for 10,000m when she sliced seven seconds off Letesenbet Gidey’s world record with 28:54.14.
At the Paris Olympics, the diminutive runner out-sprinted Faith Kipyegon and Sifan Hassan to the 5000m title and a few days later completed a golden double with a 10,000m victory.
Diamond League glory followed in Brussels as she won the 5000m. Now, after a few months of more training, she seems to have moved on to yet another level with this 13:54 time for 5km.
🎆 Beatrice Chebet becomes the first woman to break 14:00 for 5km 🎇
The Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion from Kenya clocks 13:54 at the Cursa Dels Nassos race in Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/FQ7ohm9b8k
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) December 31, 2024
Her rivals on the track might be racing for minor medals in 2025 if she maintains this form. Or it might speed up their plans to move to the marathon because Chebet has said this year that she has no immediate plans to tackle 26.2 miles.
Matthew Kipkoech won the men’s race in Barcelona in 13:26.
At the BOclassic in Italy, meanwhile, Telahun Haile Bekele of Ethiopia won the men’s 10km in a course record of 27:59 ahead of Yeman Crippa as Nadia Battocletti of Italy won the women’s 5km in 15:31.
Nadia Battocletti (Mosna)
At the Barcelona Cursa dels Nassos road race, double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet broke the women’s 5km world record, capping an incredible year.
The 24-year-old Kenyan became the first female competitor to surpass the 14-minute mark in the event, finishing the race in 13 minutes and 54 seconds.
Chebet, who won gold in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter events at the Olympics in Paris earlier this year, broke her previous record, which was set in the same race a year ago today, by 19 seconds.
“I’m super happy as everything went according to plan,” she stated. “I felt like I could run in less than 14 minutes, and I did. What more could I want than two world records and two races in Barcelona?
“My focus for next year is to win gold medals over 5,000m and 10,000m at the World Championships in Tokyo.”
As she ran through the marathon and embraced pals at the finish line after earning yet another award, Chebet was by herself.
She won her second Diamond League title in the 5,000m in September after breaking the 10,000m world record in Eugene in May, in addition to her Olympic win in 2024.
Beatrice Chebet Career
Beatrice Chebet, the daughter of Francis and Lilian Kirui, was born on March 5, 2000. She participated in 5000-meter races in elementary school before attending Saramek Secondary School in Londiani, where she graduated in 2013. In November 2016, she became a member of the Lemotit Athletics Club.
Chebet won the Kenyan Under-20s 5000m in June 2018 at the age of 18. She won the 5000-meter gold at the World U20 Championships in Athletics a month later at Tampere 2018, making history as the first Kenyan woman and the first non-Ethiopian since 2006.
The top three competitors in the women’s U20 event at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships, Chebet and the Ethiopian team of Alemitu Tariku and Tsigie Gebreselama, all finished in the same time of 20:50. At first, Tariku was declared the champion, and Gebreselama received the silver medal. Nevertheless, Chebet was awarded the gold medal following the assessment of the finished footage.[10] The Kenyan U20 National Cross Country Championships were won by her in 2019.
Chebet won a silver medal in the 5000 meters at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with a timing of 14:46.75, ahead of Dawit Seyaum (14:47.36) and behind Gudaf Tsegay (14:46.29).
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