World 800m silver medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi stepped up to the mile in style, breaking the world road mile record with 3:54.56* at the adizero Road to Records event in Herzogenaurach, Germany, on Saturday (27).
Deciding to make his mile debut rather than race his specialist distance, the Kenyan 19-year-old improved the previous world record of 3:56.13 set by USA’s Hobbs Kessler at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 in October, despite celebrating on his way to the tape.
Kessler was second on this occasion, chasing Wanyonyi over the finish line in 3:56.18, while South Africa’s Ryan Mphahlele was third in 3:56.45.
On a busy day of racing in Herzogenaurach, the men’s mile followed a rare road 800m which was won by Canada’s Marco Arop, who beat Wanyonyi to the world title in Budapest last year. Arop clocked 1:45.
Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich almost added the women-only world record to the world 10km record of 28:46 she set in a mixed race in Valencia in January. This time she clocked 30:03 for a performance just two seconds off the women-only world record set by the late Agnes Tirop at this event in 2021. On Saturday, athletes wore limited-edition kit in honour of Tirop.
In the women’s 5km, world U20 5000m champion Medina Eisa clocked a winning 14:38 – the fastest ever women’s road 5km by an U20 athlete.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
Credit: World Athletics
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