Cheptegei sets new 10K world record

He targeted the record ahead of the race – an optimism justified by his form throughout the year, from World Cross-Country victory in March through to his gold medal in the 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships held in Doha in September.

He was sensibly paced through the early kilometres in 2:42; 5:22, 7:57 and 10:38 but Cheptegai was in front as he passed halfway in 13:23 and ran the second half alone with successive kilometres of 2:38/16:01, 2:40/18:42 and from 7-9km in 5:15/23:59. He ‘only’ had to run less than 2:44 for the final kilometre, which he did with several seconds to spare. “I knew that Valencia was going to be a really fast course,” he said, “[but] to achieve what we came here for is something really special.”