Kenyan athlete moves inside world all-time top 10 list after winning race in Spain
Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 22.02.26. | 21:50
She now becomes the sixth Kenyan to rank high in the distance
Kenyan long-distance runner Caroline Gitonga on Sunday, 22 February, moved inside the top 10 of the world all-time list in the women's 10 kilometers road running, after setting a new personal best in Spain.
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Gitonga, twin sister to another Kenyan athlete, Purity, won this year's 10K Facsa Castellón in a time of 29:34, to move into ninth spot on the world all-time list.
By doing so, the 29-year-old, who was taking part in her first race of 2026, also took seconds off her previous personal best in the distance - 30:46, which she set during last year's edition of the World Athletics Label road race.
Caroline Gitonga 🇰🇪🇰🇪 wins after running a 29.34 at the 10k FACSA Castellón. Congratulations 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Caro 😍😍!#running #kenya #sports #athleticskenya pic.twitter.com/o0SvYGv7HW
— Evangeline Mukua. (@mukua_karimi) February 22, 2026
Caroline won by 11 seconds ahead of her compatriot Nelvin Jepkemboi, who came second in 29:45, with Ethiopia’s Chaltu Dida third in 29:50.
Having run together with Jepkemboi through the 5km mark in 14:32, Caroline unleashed a winning move on her compatriot as she attempted to push ahead, clocking a time that will now see her knock off Bahraini Kalkidan Gezahegne off the top 10 all-time list, while tying the time set by Ethiopia's Girmawit Gebrzihair in November 2001.
When ratified, Gitonga will join five other Kenyans in the top 10, among them: Agnes Ngetich (top), Emmaculate Anyango (second), Brenda Jepchirchir (fourth), Hellen Lobun (seventh), and Lilian Kasait (eighth).
Coincidentally, Caroline's twin sister, Purity, was also in the race, finishing fifth in a new personal best time of 30:25.
Up in front of her in fourth was Great Britain’s Megan Keith, who, by running in a time of 30:07, took one second off the European record set by her compatriot Eilish McColgan in Valencia.
The men's race was also not short of history, as Uganda's Harbert Kibet, making his 10km debut, won the race in a world-leading 26:39, a time that made him the fifth-fastest 10km runner in history – just one second slower than his compatriot Joshua Cheptegei, the multiple global gold medallist and world 5000m and 10,000m record-holder.
Kibet won by four seconds ahead of Yann Schrub of France, who clocked 26:43 to beat Sweden’s Andreas Almgren by two seconds, and improve his rival’s European record in the process.