L. MathekaBudapest23: Tough test for Kenyan trio in quest for 10000m title
Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 19.08.23. | 14:47
Sifan Hassan is the favourite in the race.
Kenyan youngster Grace Loibach, alongside Irene Kamais and Agnes Chebet will carry the hopes of giving Kenya a medal in the women’s 10,000m when the race guns off on Saturday evening.
Loibach ran 29:47.42 on her 10,000m debut to finish second behind Sifan Hassan in Hengelo and the 19-year-old, who finished fourth at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, now makes her major championships track debut.
Third on this season’s top list, Nawowuna is the eighth-fastest 10,000m runner of all time.
Dutch star Sifan Hassan who is entered for the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m remains one of the favourites.
The 30-year-old won two gold medals, in the 5000m and 10,000m, at the Olympic Games as well as 1500m bronze and since then she has become a major marathon winner, claiming the London Marathon crown in a 2:18:33 national record on her debut at the distance in April, despite stopping mid race.
Her return to the track resulted in a 29:37.80 10,000m win in Hengelo in June – the third-fastest performance of her career and the eighth quickest of all time – but even that is not enough to lead this season’s top list, during a year in which a record six women have dipped under 30:00.
That top spot is filled by Ethiopia’s world 5000m champion Gudaf Tsegay, who ran a 29:29.73 PB at Ethiopia’s World Championships Trials in Nerja a few weeks after Hassan’s Hengelo run.
In just her second ever race at the distance, Tsegay became the fourth-fastest women’s 10,000m runner in history.
Like Hassan, Tsegay has impressive range – the 26-year-old claimed world 1500m silver last year and holds the world indoor record for the distance – and now she makes her major championship debut over 25 laps of the track.
Also like Hassan, Tsegay is entered for the 5000m in Budapest, too, but this time the Ethiopian is giving the 1500m a miss.
Whether Hassan – who won world titles in the 1500m and 10,000m in Doha four years ago – contests all three distances remains to be seen.
The women’s 10,000m is the first track final of the championships, held on the evening of day one around eight hours after the 1500m heats, and Hassan’s medal chances are stronger in the longer events.
So that’s two of the four fastest 10,000m runners of all time and the field also features the fastest.
Tsegay’s teammate Letesenbet Gidey – the world record-holder with her tremendous 29:01.03 set in 2021 – has raced sparingly this year but is entered for the 10,000m and 5000m in Budapest too.
Additional information by World Athletics
