Joshua Cheptegei sets new road world record over 10km
Ethiopia's Kinde Atanaw Alayew and Roza Dereje win the Valencia men's and women's marathon respectively
Last Updated: 01/12/19 12:32pm
Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei has set a new 10km road world record in Valencia, beating the previous best by Kenyan Leonard Komon.
Cheptegei, who won the world 10,000m title on the track in Doha earlier this year, clocked 26 minutes 38 seconds in Spain, improving Komon's 2010 mark by six seconds.
It caps a remarkable year for the Ugandan who also won the IAAF World Cross Championships in Denmark in March.
"What a year it has been. I can't believe it," he said after completing the memorable 2019 hat-trick.
"I knew that Valencia was going to be a really fast course, one of the fastest in the world. So to get to achieve what we came here for is something really special.
"This year has made me so happy."
Cheptegei reached the halfway mark in 13:23 and the world record appeared within his grasp when he reached eight km in 21:37.
He then covered the final kilometre in 2:45 to break the record.
The 10km was held alongside the full marathon, with the men's race won in a course record time of 2:03:51 by Ethiopia's Kinde Atanaw Alayew. Compatriot Roza Dereje also broke the course record to win the women's race in a time of 2:18:30.
Northern Ireland's Paul Pollock's time of 2:10:17 achieved the Olympic marathon qualifying time and moved him to second on the Irish all-time list.
