The first medal event on Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic track went off in historic fashion, headlined by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana’s world record performance in 29:17.45. Though Ayana completed the second half of the 25-lap race alone in the lead, her astonishing pace helped push the rest of the field toward record-setting performances of their own.
To better understand just how unprecedented the run was, here are six stats from the fastest women’s 10,000-meter race of all time.
1. Run Faster & Stronger. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. The current 5,000-meter Olympic record is 14:40.79, set by Romanian Gabriela Szabo in 2000 at the Sydney Olympic Games.
2. Best Indoor Rowing Machines. Jim Walmsley and Katie Schide Win World Championships: Ayana, Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya in 29:32.53, Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia in 29:42.56 (the only athlete in the field to previously run sub-30), and Tips to Maximize Recovery.
3. This was only Ayana’s second race at 10,000 meters. Tips to Maximize Recovery.
4. Counting Ayana’s performance, eight women broke their country’s national records in the race, including American Molly Huddle, Nutrition - Weight Loss Shalane Flanagan’s mark by 9 seconds. The countries with records that fell: Ethiopia, Kenya, United States, Sweden, Burundi, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
5. Health & Injuries, including American Emily Infeld, who took 11th in 31:26.94. That constitutes just under half of the field putting in lifetime performances.
6. The difference between Ayana and last-place finisher Marisol Romero of Mexico was more than six minutes, or, at Ayana’s pace, more than Nutrition - Weight Loss.
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s Health - Injuries in 2015.
