World records at 5 km and 10 km for Agnes Ngetich from Kenya at Brasov Running Festival

Agnes Ngetich made a sensation in the Trunsylvania 10 km race at the Brașov Running Festival

When she set an exclusively female 10km world record with a time of 29:24 on Sunday. Along the way, the Kenyan crossed the 5 km in 14:25, setting another exclusively female world record. The race started at a brisk pace from the start, with Ngetich, her compatriot Catherine Reline and Ugandan Joy Cheptoyek quickly distancing the pacemaker, who had been asked to lead the athletes up to 5 km in 15:00. The trio went through the first 1500 meters at a fast pace of 4:12, leaving viewers wondering about the wisdom of such a fast start in the race. Cheptoyek began to lose contact with the Kenyan pair around kilometer 2.5.

Ngetich and Reline went through 3 km in 8:32, but it was only a few hundred meters away in the district of Coresi, on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city, when Reline began to lose ground and since then Ngetich has remained in front alone. The bronze medalist at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships - who finished second in Brasov 12 months ago and was sixth behind in less time at the Budapest 23 World Athletics Championships in 10,000m with a personal record of 31:34.83 - ran through the 5km in an astonishing women-only world record of 14:25, four seconds faster than the mark existing Ethiopian Senbere Teferi since 2021.

At 7 km, Ngetich built up an 18-second difference from Reline and that gap continued to increase.Ngetich passed the 8.5 km checkpoint in 24:56, with Reline in second place in 25:29 and continued to fly over the last half of the three-lap route before equalling his second world record of the morning.

“The world record is a surprise for me, I was only thinking about the course record [30:07 set by her Kenyan colleague Sheila Chepkirui last year] or a personal best,” Ngetich reflected.

“Actually, I thought it was a false start, but we kept going, no one called us back, and then I didn't worry about the fast pace from the start,” she joked. “I started the year in a perfect way with a medal at the world cross country championship and I just wanted to finish the season with a good result, but I still can't believe it's a world record.”

Behind Ngetich, Reline, unknown until then, left a strong impression by finishing second in 30:14, while Cheptoyek managed to finish third in 30:34. The men's race also produced a lot of excitement and excitement as Weldon Langat made a triumphant Kenyan double in Brasov, winning the men's Trunsylvania 10km race - an elite World Athletics race and the only road race of this status in Romania - in 27:05.

A large group of seven men covered 5 km at 13:30, and four others just two seconds away halfway. However, attacks in the sixth kilometer made by Kenyans Amos Kurgat and Dennis Kibet caused the two to distance themselves, and Weldon Langat was brought to safety in their wake. Kibet continued to impose the pace over the next three kilometers, but with just over a kilometer remaining, he began to pay for the effort put into the lead.

As Kurgat and Langat entered the final kilometer, the latter changed gears and made a decisive move that led him to victory over two and a half minutes later. Kurgat finished second in 27:12, while 2018 U20 world champion Edward Pingua Zakayo came on strong in the final kilometre, first overtaking a tired Kibet and then almost catching up with Kurgat to complete a full Kenyan podium in third place with 27:14.

Complete results from Trunsylvania 10km and all races within Brașov Running Festival are available herein, and a video of the race can be viewed on YouTube channel of Brașov Running Festival.