Nairobi — Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet ran a world leading time of 14 minutes, 9.52 seconds to win the 5,000m race at the penultimate round of the Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday night.
Chebet had been touted to take a stab at Gudaf Tsegay’s World Record of 14:00.21 set in Eugene last year, but she couldn’t keep up with the high tempo of the required pace.
She however was content running the fastest time this year, with her finishing time also counting as a new meeting record in the Swiss city.
Chebet was peerless from the start, as she took on a high tempo from the gun, with the world record in mind. She kept abreast with the two pacesetters, as she sought to be the fastest woman ever over that distance.
However, with the race coming only three weeks after she won a grueling double gold at the Olympic Games in Paris with the 5,000m and the 10,000m, her feet couldn’t maintain the strong requirements of a world record run.
The green wavelight technology employed to help her keep tempo slowly glid further and further ahead of her, but looking behind, competition was far away, and she was content with securing her victory.
She kicked in the final lap, though not as powerfully as she usually does, as the gap between her and second placed Taye Ejgayehu was massive. The Ethiopian finished second in 14:28.76.
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