Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei and Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey broke decade-old world records in distance track races, using new light-pacing technology at a special event in Valencia, Spain, on Wednesday.
Cheptegei, the 10,000m world champion, broke his second Kenenisa Bekele world record this season, clocking an unofficial 26 minutes, 11.02 seconds in the 10,000m. Bekele’s previous world record from 2005 was 26:17.53. Cheptegei began with three pacers and ran the final 12 laps alone.
Back on Aug. 14, he lowered Bekele’s 5000m world record by two seconds to 12:35.