Beatrice Chebet reveals inspirational self-talk before breaking world record in Eugene
Beatrice Chebet has revealed how she inspired herself before breaking the world 10,000m record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on Saturday night.
Chebet said she initially had no intention of smashing the world record but she was the one to ultimately break it in a classic fashion.
Chebet ran 28:54.14 and became the first woman under 29 minutes on the track. That performance is seven seconds faster than the previous world record of 29:01.03 that Letesenbet Gidey established in 2021.
"When Gudaf asked for a world record, I decided to say: ‘Let me try to go for that to see how the body is.’ Because my body was not bad.
“I was comfortable running a world record so when I saw Gudaf drop a bit, I said: ‘Let me try to push it to see how it can go.’ When I got to the last two laps, I just got motivated and said, I’m on a world record pace, so let me push the last 400mEthiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay became the third-fastest all-time performer with her runner-up finish of 29:05.92, as four women ran faster than 30 minutes.
“The race also doubled as the selection race for Athletics Kenya’s Paris Olympic team, and Chebet and Lilian Kasait Rengeruk (29:26.89) qualified,” Chebet, the two-time world cross country champion who also claimed world 5km gold last year, told World Athletics.
How Chebet broke record
Meanwhile, Tsegay and Chebet stayed within a stride of the lights marking world record pace as they passed halfway in 14:31, until the Kenyan sped ahead with three laps remaining.
Tsegay began to fall behind the pace lights as Chebet, who said she entered the meeting to qualify for Paris, where she plans to contest both the 5000m and 10,000m, went on to make history.
With 800m to go, Chebet pulled ahead of the pace lights by two whole strides as fans inside Hayward Field began standing in their seats.
After the finish, Chebet fell to the track, splayed out in exhaustion, as Tsegay finished and joined her on the track. When the women stood, they hugged as the new world record flashed on the scoreboard behind them.
After only her second-ever 10,000m race, Chebet adds this world record to the world 5km record of 14:13 she set in Barcelona in December.
