Beatrice Chebet clocks second-fastest 5000m time in history

The 25-year-old Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion from Paris 2024 turned on the afterburners to clock 14 minutes 03.69 seconds, just two and a half seconds off the Gudaf Tsegay’s 14:00.21 world record, registering a world lead, meet record and national record.

Ethiopia’s Hailu Freweyni, a two-time world indoor champion, timed a personal best of 14:19.33 to take second place with Olympic 10,000m silver medallist and home girl Nadia Battocletti clocking a national record of 14:23.15 to complete the podium.

The current world record holder Tsegay of Ethiopia came home a distant fifth with a time of 14:24.86.

This was the second time in as many races this year Chebet was beating Tsegay in the 12.5 lap race after the Xiamen event in April 25, when she beat her rival by one second.

Chebet, a 10,000m world record holder, arrived in the Italian capital with a new African 3,000m record, a feat she achieved in Rabat after clocking a second-fastest time in history with 8:11.56, just behind China’s Wang Junxia world record of 8:06.11, set in 1993.

In the men’s 1500m race, 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot finished second with a time of 3:29.75 behind European indoor silver medallist Azeddine Habz of France who claimed the top honours in 3:29.72.

Doha 5000m champion and 2022 world U20 champion moved back down to his specialist distance with a sixth-place finish in a time of 3:30.94 while African champion Brian Komen came home a distant eighth in 3:31.14.

In the men’s 100m, Trayvon Bromell powered to a resounding win, running a world lead of 9.84s ahead of Emmanuel Eseme in 9.99s while Ferdinand Omanyala rounded off the podium in 10.01 seconds.