Advertisement

'Truly incredible': 15-year-old world record smashed in 'miracle' run

Pictured here, Joshua Cheptegei celebrates after setting a new 10,000m world record.
Joshua Cheptegei broke a 10,000m record that had stood since 2005. Pic: Getty

Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei has left the athletics world in a frenzy with an astonishing new world record at a race meet in Spain.

Cheptegei smashed the long-standing men's 10,000m world record by six seconds on Wednesday at the Valencia World Record Day.

'DOESN'T SIT RIGHT': Fans hit out at Djokovic injury scares

SO SAD: Devastating scenes as Dean Jones farewelled at MCG

The African runner crossed the finish line in a stunning 26 minutes 11.02 seconds to better the previous world record that had stood for 15 years.

The 24-year-old Cheptegei's time shattered Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele's previous world's best mark of 26:17.53 that he set back in 2005.

Cheptegei came during a special event in a near-empty Turia stadium in Valencia as only 400 people including sponsors, journalists and staff were allowed in because of COVID-19 protocols.

A breakdown of the Ugandan's splits during the 10,000m event showed just how remarkable his run truly was, with Cheptegei averaging under 16 seconds per hundred metres for the entirety of the race.

The extraordinary achievement left the athletics world gobsmacked on social media.

Another record falls on eventful day

The achievement capped an outstanding 12 months for Cheptegei.

He won the gold medal in the 10,000 at last year's World Championships in Doha and in August took Bekele's 5,000m record at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco which stood for 16 years by running 12:35.36.

Last December, also in Valencia, Cheptegei smashed a decade-long record in 10km road racing by six seconds.

Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey earlier shattered the long-standing women's 5,000m world record of her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba by running 14:06.62.

Letesenbet Gidey can be seen here celebrating her world record run in the 5,000m.
Letesenbet Gidey set a new world record in the women's 5,000m event. Pic: Getty

The 22-year-old Gidey, an excellent cross country runner and 10,000m world silver medalist, was relaxed throughout her specially organised time trial to take nearly five seconds off Dibaba's best mark from 11 years ago.

Dibaba is a three-time Olympic champion and widely considered one of the best runners of all-time.

The event was organised by Cheptegei's NN Running Team of the Netherlands and he and Gidey were helped to the finish line by pacers as well as Wavelight technology, which flashes lights on the inside of the track to indicate a specific pace.

with AAP

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.