JOIN USAyana lights up the track
In a solo performance of incredible intensity, Almaz Ayana set a new standard for women’s 10000M to give a rousing opening to the Olympic Games athletics progamme.
Wang Junxia’s world record of 29:31.78 set in 1993 had withstood the test of time till Friday, when Ayana decided to alter it and write her own story.
The little Ethiopian set her own pace, consuming lap after lap in an amazing show of front running to romp home in 29:17.45, chopping more than 14 seconds off the world record.
The 24-year-old’s bold charge left her rivals flattened and even the great Tirunesh Dibaba could not come anywhere near her compatriot. Dibaba, the two-time defending champion aiming for a historic third straight title, could only win the bronze, behind Kenya’s world champion Vivian Cheruiyot.
Besides the world record, one Area Record, eight national records and 18 personal bests were set in the first final of the athletics programme, with Ayana’s speed doing the trick.
“This means everything to me, getting here is a dream come true,” said the new Olympic champion. “I never thought that this would happen and I am so much in awe. I wouldn’t say that my recent training has been any different from before but it was all worth it,” she added.
The conditions were ideal for Ayana, who had clocked a 30:07.00 in her debut race in this event at Hengelo in June. Morning rain had cooled the air as an army of 37 athletes took the start. Soon after, though, a bunch of nine athletes pulled away, including Ayana, Dibaba, Cheruiyot and Alice Nawowuna, another Kenyan.
Nawowuna led the field at the early stage but after the half-way point, it was all Ayana. She kept pulling away from the pack even as Cheruiyot and Dibaba fought gamely behind her. With six laps to go, she was nine seconds ahead of Cheruiyot and 20 seconds ahead of Dibaba.
Never showing any signs of weariness, Ayana maintained that advantage. Cheruiyot was 100 metres behind Ayana with two and a half laps left and the result was a foregone conclusion by then. The world record too seemed within Ayana's range and she didn’t let the chance go, driving home in style.
Cheruiyot set a Kenyan record of 29:32.53 for the silver while Dibaba warded off Nawowuna to clinch the bronze medal in a personal best of 29:42.56.
Ayana will be back in action for the 5000M as she aims for a double crown. She had missed out the world record in that event by a whisker at the Diamond League in Rome this year.
Results: Women: 10000M: Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia) 29:17.45 (World record, Old: 29:31.78, Wang Junxia, 1993), 1; Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya) 29:32.53, 2; Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) 29:42.56, 3.