Chepng'etich, Hassan fail in world record bids in Hengelo
World 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan crosses the finish line during her world record attempt of the 10,000m in Hengelo, The Netherlands on October 10, 2020.
What you need to know:
- Efforts by home athlete Sifan Hassan and Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha to break the 10,000m (women) and 5,000m (men) world records respectively failed spectacularly amidst the afternoon showers.
- Paced by among others 3,000m world 3,000m steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech, who is also the world champion, Chepng’etich clocked two minutes and 40.50 seconds.
Olympic 1,500m champion Kenya’s Faith Chepng’etich yet again failed in her third attempt at the 1,000m world record in Hengelo, The Netherlands on Saturday.
Efforts by home athlete Sifan Hassan and Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha to break the 10,000m (women) and 5,000m (men) world records respectively failed spectacularly amidst the afternoon showers.
Paced by among others 3,000m world 3,000m steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech, who is also the world champion, Chepng’etich clocked two minutes and 40.50 seconds.
Chepng’etich was mounting another assault on the world record which barely eluded her in Monaco earlier this summer.
Chepng’etich’s glittering 2:29.15 run at the Stade Louis II in Monaco on August 14 this year put her second on the all-time list, just 0.17 seconds shy of Svetlana Masterkova’s world record which has stood for 24 years.
Her second attempt AG Memorial Van Damme at Boudewijn Stadion in Brussels on September 4 could only produce 2:29.92.
The 2013 World 1,500m champion Eunice Sum settled second in 2:41.37 followed by Chepkoech in 2:44.44 and Natalya Strebkova from Ukraine in 2:51.35.
The 27-year-old Hassan was within the world record at halfway mark when her legs started to fail her to miss the world record of 29:17.45 set by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana during the Rio Olympic Games on August 12, 2016.
Hassan, who set a new world record over one hour at AG Memorial Van Damme in 18.930km, romped home in 29:36.67 with Tsehay Gemechu from Ethiopia coming in second in 30:57.73.
Kejelcha, the world 10,000m silver medallist, was way off the mark in 13:12.84 against Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei’s world record of 12:35.36 set in Monaco this year.
The attempts came four days after Cheptegei and Letesenbet Gidey broke the men’s 10,000m and women’s 5,000m world records in Valencia.
Cheptegei clocked 26:11.00 to down Kenenisa Bekele’s record of 26:17.53 set in Brussels on August 26, 2005 while Gidey obliterated Tirunesh Dibaba’s record of 14:11.15 set in Oslo on June 6, 2008 with a new time of 14:06.62.
