Valencia, 15-01-24.- The 10K Valencia Ibercaja2024 has once again made history. In addition to the World Records achieved by Agnes Jebet in 10K (28:46) and 5K (14:13), the European and Asian Men's Records were broken in the event.
The Swiss athlete Dominic Lobalu achieved the European 10K Record by entering the finish line in 27:13, thus equalling the mark held by the also Swiss Julien Wanders in the 2020 edition of the 10K Valencia Ibercaja. For his part, the athlete Birhanu Balew, from Bahrain, stopped the clock in a 26:57 with which he achieved the Men's Asian Record of 10K.
In addition to these two continental records, the African women's 10K record is set by Kenyan athlete Agnes Jebet, who became the first woman to go under 29 minutes in the distance.
The 10K Valencia Ibercaja thus conquers the double of World Record and is crowned as the best 10K in the world. The women's world record achieved yesterday morning is added to the men's record that has held the race since the 2020 edition with Rhonex Kipruto's 26:24.
In addition, the winner of the 16th edition of the 10K Valencia Ibercaja was the Ugandan athlete Jacob Kiplimo, whose 26:48 becomes the fifth best mark of all time in 10K.
National Records
But the day also brought other big brands. Starting with Abdessamad Oukhelfen's Spanish Record (27:44) and continuing with nine more national records.
In the women's category, in addition to the national African record set by the new record holder Agnes Jebet, Uganda (Joy Cheptoyek, 30:03) and Burundi (Francine Niyomukunzi, 30:42) also broke the national record.
In the men's category, in addition to the aforementioned Spanish record, the national records of Switzerland (Dominic Lobalu, 27:13), Bahrain (Birhanu Balew, 26:57), Uruguay (Santiago Catrofe, 28:04), Rwanda (Yves Nimubona, 27:49), Sweden (Andreas Almgrem, 27:20) and Djibouti (Mohamed Isamil, 27:27) were also smashed.
In addition, on Sunday, January 14, which will be recorded in the history of athletics, the Portuguese athlete Rosa Mota achieved the best world mark in history in the master 65 category (38:45). The athlete, a marathon specialist, was Olympic champion of this distance at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Likewise, the athlete Axel Vang Christensen also achieved the European U23 Record of 10K (28:21). There was no previous record in this category, it was achieved by the first athlete to go under 28:30, and Axel achieved it in Valencia.
A party with 12,000 runners at the finish line
All these records were achieved in a 16th edition of the 10K Valencia Ibercaja, in which 600 volunteers made it possible and nearly 12,000 runners reached the finish line after enjoying the streets of Valencia City of Running and flying through the fastest circuit in the world for men and women.
The thousands of runners, who took the start at the pace of Chimo Bayo's Hu-Ha! from the Paseo de la Alameda, inaugurated the year of running in a big way in a test that made available to popular participants up to 12 differentiated starts so that they could run as comfortably as possible.
Sunday's sports day started with the 5K Valencia Vamos, the 5-kilometer preliminary race that celebrated its 2nd edition starting from the Puente de las Flores and that brought together about 1000 runners at the finish line of the Paseo de la Alameda.
In addition, to close a morning full of athletics in the city of running, the little ones also enjoyed their races with the 10Kids Valencia Quirónsalud. The children's races had about 800 participants, who were animated by Joxe Fernández and covered a circuit of between 300 and 1500 meters in the same Paseo de la Alameda, always guided by the official Hyundai Autiber Motor race car and with a winners' medal included.
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