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Ruth Chepng'etich, Beatrice Chebet world records ratified
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 12.12.24. | 08:55
The duo this year made waves on road and track respectively, surpassing times not thought possible
Kenyan athletes Beatrice Chebet and Ruth Chepng’etich had their world records ratified by global sports body World Athletics on Wednesday 11 December.
The duo, who made waves this year on track and road respectively, were one of the names whose records were made official in a list that included three world records set at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and three others at endurance events.
6️⃣ world records have now been ratified 👏
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) December 11, 2024
Chebet, who stunned the world by becoming the only athlete to win two individual gold medals in Paris, earlier in the season hit the headlines after smashing the world 10,000m record in Eugene.
The two-time world cross-country champion covered 25 laps at May’s Prefontaine Classic in 28:54.14, taking seven seconds off the world record of 29:01.03 set by Letesenbet Gidey in Hengelo on 8 June 2021.
The race was originally billed as a world record attempt by Gudaf Tsegay, but it was Chebet who attached herself to the Ethiopian, eventually overtaking her and catching up with the world record wavelights to break the record.
Her compatriot Chepng’etich was on another level months later at the Chicago Marathon, when she became the first woman to cover the classic distance inside 2:10, conquering the course in a record time of 2:09:56.
Her winning time was a huge revision of the previous world record of 2:11:53, set by Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa in Berlin on 24 September 2023.
In other records also ratified on the day, Swedish pole vaulter’s Mondo Duplantis Olympic winning distance of 6.25m was made official, same case to USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s incredible 50.37 performance in Paris, where she successfully defended her 400m hurdles title.
Also on the list was USA’s mixed 4x400m team of Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown, which produced the first world record of the Olympic Games in Paris
The quartet sped to a 3:07.41 time in the heats, only to finish second to Netherlands in the final.
Finally, Japan’s Masatora Kawano’s time of 2:21:47 to win the 35km race walk in Takahata was ratified.
With his feat, Kawano established the first recognised world record for the relatively new discipline.
