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On Friday, World Athletics ratified three world record performances by Kenyans Kibiwott Kandie and Beatrice Chepkoech as well as Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia.
Gudaf Tsegay
On February 9, Tsegay broke the women’s world record in the indoor 1500m event. She finished in the time of 3:53.09. The former record was owned by Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba at 3:55.17.
It took Tsegay 58.97, 2:05.94 and 2:37.36 to finish the first 400, 800 and 1,000 meters of the race respectively. She completed the last lap in 30 seconds before smashing Dibaba’s record by almost two seconds.
“I have been training really hard and I set myself a target to break the world indoor record. I had this record in my mind for a long time – maybe six or seven years,” said Tsegay.
Beatrice Chepkoech
Chepkoech took the road 5K record in Monaco on Feb. 14 with her performance of 14:43.
Sifan Hassan previously held the record at 14:44.
“I’m so happy because I didn’t expect it. It was cold and there was a lot of wind, but I tried to follow my pacemaker and everything was perfect,” said Chepkoech.
Kibiwott Kandie
Kandie became the first person to break the 58-minute barrier in the half-marathon distances with his performance in Valencia on Dec. 5. He finished in the time of 57:32 taking down Geoffrey Kamworor’s record of 58:01. The next three runners, all wearing super shoes, also finished faster than 58-minutes.
Kandie was running off of Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo for most of the race, then burried him and the rest of the field over the final kilometre. Phonex Kipruto, Jacob Kiplimo, and Alexander Mutiso were the other three who finished under 58.
“I can’t believe it, I have beaten Kamworor’s world record by half a minute. Today is a great day for me and also for Kenya,” said Kandie.
