JAW-DROPPING 5000M WORLD RECORD FOR GUDAF TSEGAY AT PRE CLASSIC
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved – Used with permission.
  NOTE: This story was written remotely –Ed.
(17-Sep) — Reigning world 10,000m champion, Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, not only broke Faith Kipyegon’s 5000m world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., today, but she nearly became the first woman to break the 14-minute barrier. Tsegay, 26, who represents Nike, clocked an other-worldly 14:00.21 to hack five seconds off of Kipyegon’s mark of 14:05.20 which held up for exactly 100 days. It was Tsegay’s first world record in an outdoor event; she ran a world indoor record of 3:53.09 for 1500m in 2021.
“My focus today is world record,” Tsegay told the flash quotes team at Hayward Field after her race. Â “Because I’m so hungry [for the] World Championship, my focus too on a World Champion, but I miss 5000 (at the World Championships) for injury.” Â She continued: “I’m very hungry in my mind. But today is very happy.”
What’s incredible is that she actually had a race on her hands from Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, the reigning world cross country champion. The two athletes were following teenager Birke Haylom of Ethiopia –not officially a pacemaker, but who split 3000m in 8:26.02, well under the world best for women under 20– before drifting to an outside lane and dropping out. For the next kilometer Tsegay towed Chebet around the track, the Kenyan refusing to lead.
With two laps to go it looked like Chebet had an equal chance at the win, but after 4000m (11:16.89) Tsegay began to pull away. She ran solo to the finish (besides passing a lapped runner), running 65.7 for the penultimate lap before closing in 64.6. She ran the final kilometer in 2:43.4 to seal the record.
“Yes, I will try,” Tsegay said when asked if she would attempt to break 14 minutes next season.
Chebet was rewarded with a personal best 14:05.92, a mark nearly as good as Kipyegon’s Kenyan record. Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye got third in 14:21.52.
The men’s 3000m was also fast, but not quite at world record level. Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen doubled back from his fast mile yesterday, and made it clear from the start that he wanted another win. After the second pacemaker, Sam Prakel, dropped out in the middle of the second kilometer, Ingebrigtsen took over at the front and kept the pace high. He split 2000m in 4:59.12.
“I’m just focusing on myself and trying to run as…
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