Olympic champion Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia produced an extraordinary display in her first race of the season winning the world 10,000 metres title by almost a minute on Saturday.
The 25-year-old, who smashed the world record when winning in Rio last year, finished over 46 seconds clear of her legendary compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba, the three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion who took silver after being unable to go with the scorching pace of the winner.
Kenya's Agnes Tirop took the bronze.
"I am very happy to win this title, much more than when I won the Olympic gold because I have been sick this year and didn't expect it," said Ayana.
"In fact, this was my first race of 2017."
Dibaba was far from disappointed with her silver as she has been focussing on road racing.
"I have won many gold medals before but since I became a marathon runner, I only returned to the track for this race," she said.
"I knew that Almaz was going to run very fast, so if I had followed her, I wouldn't have won a medal.
"I know my capacity these days because my training for this race was very short," added the 32-year-old.
MANYONGA WINS WORLD LONG JUMP
South African Luvo Manyonga won gold in the men's long jump.
The 25-year-old, Olympic silver medallist in Rio last year by just 1cm, leaped a best of 8.48 metres.
American Jarrion Lawson took silver with 8.44m, with another South African, Ruswahl Samaai claiming bronze (8.27).
Comments
SHARE