Everyone wants to end their year on a high – and this was certainly the case for two-time Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet, who closed out her stellar 2024 as the fastest-ever woman to run 5K.
On 31 December, in the Spanish city of Barcelona, the Kenyan athlete demolished the women’s 5K world record when she won the Cursa dels Nassos road race in a incredible time of 13:54. Thanks to this performance, Chebet bettered the previous women’s 5K world record on the road, set by Agnes Ngetich in January 2024, by a staggering 19 seconds. What’s more, this seismic run on New Year’s Eve surpassed even the women’s 5K world record on the track – the 14:00.21 achieved by Gudaf Tsegay in 2023.
As such, 24-year-old Chebet is now the first woman in history to run the distance in under 14 minutes on any surface.
According to World Athletics, Chebet was paced by Latvia’s Dmitrijs Sergonjins, who brought the two-time world cross-country champion through the 3km split in 8:24. By the time she hit this mark, Chebet was eight seconds inside world record pace and well clear of her competitors.
Passing runners in the men’s race, she showed no signs of struggle as she sped up over the last two kilometres, clocking a 2:44 and 2:46 respectively. Overall, Chebet averaged a pace of 4:28 min/mile for her world record-breaking run – and she finished within 26 seconds of the men’s winner, Matthew Kipruto.
Behind Chebet and still breaking records was Medina Eisa of Ethiopia. Crossing the finish line second in a sensational time of 14:23, she achieved the fastest-ever 5K time by a women under the age of 20.
Chebet’s breakthrough comes a year after she broke the women’s-only world record (14:13) at the same race in Barcelona in 2023.
‘I’m super happy as everything went according to plan,’ Chebet told World Athletics. ‘I felt capable of running under 14 minutes and I managed to do so. Two races in Barcelona and two world records, can I ask for more? My focus for next year is to win gold medals over the 5000m and 10,000m at the World Championships in Tokyo.’
While Chebet has been a podium contender on the world stage for years, she reached another level this season. In March 2024, she won her second SheRaces to launch women-only race series in 2025 in Belgrade, Serbia. Then, across the pond in May, she shattered the 10,000m world record when she won the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon in 28:54.17. At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, meanwhile, she claimed double gold with stunning victories in the 5000m and 10,000m – a huge improvement on her bronze medal in the 5000m at the 2023 World Championships.
