World 10K Bengaluru 2022: Kenyan athletes break into record books
News 24
Kenya's Irene Cheptai and Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli broke into the record book by running the entire course in the 14th edition of the World 10K Bengaluru 2022, clocking 27:38 and 30:35 minutes respectively.
New Delhi: Kenya's Irene Cheptai and Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli broke into the record book by running the entire course in the 14th edition of the World 10K Bengaluru 2022, clocking 27:38 and 30:35 minutes respectively.
The World 10K Bengaluru 2022 is a World Athletics Elite Label Race, which was held on Sunday. Kipkorir Kimeli, fourth in the Olympic Games 5000m last summer, took the lead with a kilometre to go and raced ahead of Ethiopia's reigning world U20 10,000m champion Tadese Worku to reduce the men's course record by six seconds from the previous mark set by his compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor in 2014.
The race started unusually with Kenya's Reynold Kipkorir, who was to eventually finish ninth, lagged for much of the first 5 Kms, passing the halfway point in 14:00 minutes with the rest of the elite field staying around 70 metres in arrears.
However, shortly after going through 5 km, Worku changed the gear and started to rapidly tow the leading men back to Kipkorir before going past him just before the 6 Km point and then increasing the pace further.
Kipkorir Kimeli continued running just behind Worku for the next three kilometres, letting his Ethiopian rival do all the hard work as the pair gradually got back onto course record pace as they also put daylight between themselves and the rest of the men's field.
Worku still looked fresh as they reached the final kilometre but could not respond when Kipkorir Kimeli took the lead, with the latter almost sprinting like a middle-distance runner over the final 300 metres as the finish line approached Bengaluru's Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Kipkorir Kimeli crossed the line in 27:38 minutes with Worku also inside the old record with 27:43 minutes while the Kenyan pre-race favourite, and former world half-marathon record holder, Kibiwott Kandie, made up three places in the final two kilometres and came through for third in 27:57 minutes.