Athletics

The fastest inhabitants of our earth on two running shoes will now take their place at the starting line Sunday for a lightning-fast 10-kilometer run through the streets of Valencia. This Spanish city of just under 800,000 inhabitants has been popular in the athletics world for years because of its particularly fast marathon course, but in recent years it has also been joined by an enormously strong and fast half marathon and 10-kilometer race.

At the previous edition, Valencia pulverized the women's world record to a hallucinatory 28:46. This made Agnes Ngetich the first woman ever to demolish the mythical barrier of 29 minutes in the 10-kilometer road race. In 2020, the WR was also run there in the men's race, but that world record does not stand anymore.

And this year's edition promises to be incredibly fast again. Especially among the Europeans, it looks to be a spirited battle as at least four athletes might be able to swipe the European record off the history books. Frenchman Jimmy Gressier, Swiss Dominic Lobalu, Swede Andreas Almgren and Belgian Isaac Kimeli dream of dipping under 27 minutes.

Last year, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo won in the fifth best chrono ever run at 10 kilometers: 26 minutes and 48 seconds. This year, Ethiopia's Foyten Tesfay is chasing a fast chrono in the women's race, while in the men's race, her compatriot Tadesse Worku has very good papers and a rock-solid PB of 26:46.80 on the track.

Will history be rewritten on Sunday?

(SR for Tagtik/Source: Tagtik/Photo: 10K Valencia Ibercaja by Kiprun)