Kenyan Beatrice Chebet broke the women’s 10,000m world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday.
Chebet, 24, clocked 28 minutes, 54.15 seconds at Hayward Field in a race that was also billed as the Kenyan Olympic Trials.
She became the first woman to break 29 minutes in the event, beating Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey’s previous world record of 29:01.03 from 2021.
“We did not come for a world record,” said Chebet, who raced a 10,000m for the first time since March 2020. “For us, Kenya, we came for trials, for Paris.”
PRE CLASSIC: Full Results
Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, who led until about 8,800 meters, ended up second on Saturday in 29:05.92, the third-fastest time in history.
At last year’s Pre Classic, Tsegay broke the 5000m world record in a race where Chebet clocked the third-fastest time in history.
Chebet won world championships silver and bronze medals in the 5000m the last two years and said she wants to race both the 5000m and 10,000m at the Paris Games.
The majority of the Pre Classic events are later Saturday, live on NBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Peacock from 4-6 p.m. ET.