Ayana smashes 10,000m world record, Chekwel collapses

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP |

Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana smashed one of the longest-held records in athletics here Friday to win the 10,000m and claim the first gold of the Olympic track and field competition.

The 24-year-old pulled away from the field midway through the race and never let up before powering home in 29min 17.45sec.

Her winning time was nearly 14 seconds quicker than the previous world best over the distance of 29:31.78 set by Wang Junxia in Beijing in 1993.

Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya took silver while defending champion Tirunesh Dibaba took bronze.

It was a blistering pace for the other runners, with Uganda’s Juliet Chekwel fading in the opening laps. in the confusion after being over-lapped, she apparently thought she had finished in the 24th lap, yet she had one lap to go. She got a Did Not Finish (DNF) result.

POS	BIB	ATHLETE	MARK	DETAIL
1	641	Almaz AYANAETH	29:17.45	WR
2	946	Vivian Jepkemoi CHERUIYOTKEN	29:32.53	NR
3	645	Tirunesh DIBABAETH	29:42.56	PB
4	953	Alice Aprot NAWOWUNAKEN	29:53.51	PB
5	956	Betsy SAINAKEN	30:07.78	PB
6	1349	Molly HUDDLEUSA	30:13.17	AR
7	1257	Yasemin CANTUR	30:26.41	PB
8	642	Gelete BURKAETH	30:26.66	PB
9	1068	Karoline Bjerkeli GRØVDALNOR	31:14.07	PB
10	344	Eloise WELLINGSAUS	31:14.94	PB
11	1350	Emily INFELDUSA	31:26.94	PB
12	1227	Sarah LAHTISWE	31:28.43	NR
13	371	Diane NUKURIBDI	31:28.69	NR
14	1036	Susan KUIJKENNED	31:32.43
15	717	Joanne PAVEYGBR	31:33.44	SB
16	694	Jess ANDREWSGBR	31:35.92	PB
17	801	Alexi PAPPASGRE	31:36.16	NR
18	922	Yuka TAKASHIMAJPN	31:36.44
19	962	Darya MASLOVAKGZ	31:36.90	NR
20	919	Hanami SEKINEJPN	31:44.44
21	1169	Dominique SCOTTRSA	31:51.47	PB
22	501	Natasha WODAKCAN	31:53.14	SB
23	1267	Alia Saeed MOHAMMEDUAE	31:56.74
24	1387	Sitora HAMIDOVAUZB	31:57.77	NR
25	482	Lanni MARCHANTCAN	32:04.21	SB
26	1134	Carla Salomé ROCHAPOR	32:06.05
27	1176	Salome NYIRARUKUNDORWA	32:07.80
28	1044	Jip VASTENBURGNED	32:08.92
29	622	Trihas GEBREESP	32:09.67	SB
30	866	Veronica INGLESEITA	32:11.67
31	418	Tatiele Roberta DE CARVALHOBRA	32:38.21
32	1008	Brenda FLORESMEX	32:39.08	SB
33	1346	Marielle HALLUSA	32:39.32
34	720	Beth POTTERGBR	33:04.34
35	1011	Marisol ROMEROMEX	35:33.03
	1269	Juliet CHEKWELUGA	DNF
	1393	Ekaterina TUNGUSKOVAUZB	DNF