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Kenyan Agnes Ngetich, who is the defending world cross-country champion, ran the second-fastest road 10K in history on Sunday in Lille, France. It appears to also be the fastest women’s-only performance of all time. The race is the International de Lille 10 km.

She finished in the time of 29:26 for the win.

Emmaculate Anyango recorded a new personal best time of 29:34 to finish second. Christine Njoki rounded out the podium, clocking 29:40 to take third.

The current world record — in a mixed race — of 29:14 was set by Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehaulaw in February 2022 in Castellón, Spain. These performances are based on women running in road races that include men. The women’s only record was 30:01 by Agnes Jebet Tirop from her performance in Herzogenaurach, Germany in 2021.

From World Athletics. The current women’s only record is indicated as held by Agnes Tirop and the mixed (men and women) is 29:14 by Yehualaw.

The 22-year-old Ngetich has set four new personal bests in 2023. She clocked a 3000m performance of 8:32.62 in Oslo, Norway in June. The week prior in the Stade Charléty in Paris, France, Ngetich ran the 5000m in the time of 14:36.70. On August 19, she clocked a 10,000m 31:34.83 during the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary finishing sixth.

The Lille 10K road performance represents a staccato jump in time. The points performance rating by World Athletics gives her 1279 points for that performance. Until Sunday, her best, points-wise, was her 5000m PB at 1209 points.

Ngetich ran a women’s-only world record time of 29:24 at the Brasov Running Festival in Romania on Sept. 10. However, the record was not ratified by World Athletics because the course did not meet the requirements. It was remeasured 25m short.

What’s even more incredible was her pace as she raced through the halfway mark in an astounding 14:25, smashing Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi’s women-only record from 2021 by a massive four seconds.

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