Another Day Another Record: Cheptegei Attempts 10,000m Record Tonight

2020 will go down as a record breaking year for all the wrong reasons in some circles; In the running world however it will be the right kind of record breaking year, the one you love to see, and tonight Ugandan athlete Joshua Cheptegei hopes to add another to the list of records already fallen this year.

Cheptegei already has two shiny new world records to his name this year alone after smashing the 5km Road record in Monaco with a time of 12:51, back in February, and then taking 20-seconds off his 5,000m track PB and breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year record by running 12:35.36 at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco in August.

NN World Record Day in Valencia

It’s another of Bekele’s crowns that Cheptegei is aiming to take this evening in the 10,000m at the NN World Record Day in Valencia. The current record of 26:17.53 was run by Bekele back in 2005 in Brussels, but it seems Cheptegei is full of confidence ahead of the attempt, “I am very excited to have the opportunity to fight for the 10,000m world record,” Cheptegei said earlier this year. “As I was able to show in Monaco, I am in great shape, so I would like to make the most of it by attacking the world record of 10,000 meters. Kenenisa’s 10,000m WR is one of the most difficult on record, but my training continues to go well and that gives me the certainty of breaking another world record.”

Running records across almost all disciplines, and in a variety of distances, have been broken this year. Fuelled by the restrictions and lack of competitive racing for the majority of 2020 athletes were able to shift focus to other feats ranging from Cheptegei’s 5,000m on records on track and road, to both Men and Women’s records for running the length of Britain being broken by Dan Lawson and Carla Molinaro within months of each other; or the Women’s Half marathon record being lowered to 1:04:31 by Ababel Yeshaneh in February to Damian Hall and John Kelly slogging it out and both resetting the record along the 268-mile Pennine Way. Mo Farah was also able to get in on the act with his 1-hour world record in Brussels in September. 

Can Cheptegei add another record to the growing list. If so it’ll be a big one! 10,000m is a distance that a lot of people can relate to, even if they can’t imagine running it at the pace Cheptegei will have to shift. It’s a staple of athletics and amateur runners alike, and ultimately it’s a record that has stood for 15-years.

You can follow the coverage via the live stream on Youtube, or on BBC Online and Red Button. The attempt is scheduled to start at 21:30 local (20:30 UK)For more info about the attempt check it out here