Chepkoech Breaks 5K World Record in Monaco

2019 Doha world 3000m Steeplechase champion Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya broke the world 5km record at the Monaco Run on Sunday, February 14, clocking 14:43*.

The 29-year-old Kenyan now owns two world records. Chepkoech performance bettered the previous record in a mixed-gender race of 14:48 set by Caroline Kipkirui in 2018 and is also one second faster than Sifan Hassan’s 14:44 record for a women’s-only race, until this morning the fastest time ever produced over the distance since the 5km was introduced as a world record event in November 2017.

Chepkoech battled strong winds during the early stages of the race along with Monaco coastline but fought on over the latter stages to claim a second world record, this one joining her 8:44.32 record in the 3000m steeplechase set in 2018, also in Monaco.

She may not have had the world record in mind initially, but Chepkoech did set her sights on victory from the outset.

Despite the winds, Chepkoech had already forged a six-second lead just 500 metres into the race, before reaching the first kilometre in 2:57, 15 seconds clear of Meraf Bahta, her nearest competitor. Splits of 2:59 for the second kilometre and 3:01 for the third followed before she and pacesetter Luuk Maas decided to up the tempo as they approached the Larvotto Tunnel portion of the course, at the northeastern edge of the Principality’s main port, a second time.