Rio 2016: Almaz Ayana smashes 10,000m world record

Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana crosses the line to win the women’s 10,000 metre gold at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. Ayana powered home in 29min 17.45s. (Photo: AP)

Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana smashed the world record to win the Olympic 10,000 metres title on Friday, blowing away the competition in one of the greatest ever long-distance races at the Games.

In only her second competitive 10,000m, Ayana dominated from the start and halfway through the race she surged away from the leading pack, injecting staggering pace to finish in 29 minutes 17.45 seconds.

Her time was 14 seconds inside the 29:31.78 set by China’s Wang Junxia in 1993.

It was the first time in seven years that a female athlete had run 10,000m in under 30 minutes and the first four all achieved the feat. The first 13 women across the line clocked personal bests, including five national records.

Kenya’s world 10,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot tried in vain to keep up with Ayana but had to settle for silver while Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba, the defending Olympic champion, grabbed bronze.

All three women ran inside the old Olympic 10,000m record.

Cheruiyot, Kenya’s most decorated female athlete, also fell short in the 2012 London Games where she took bronze, meaning east African country’s wait for its first women’s 10,000m gold medallist continues.

The 31-year-old Dibaba, who returned in 2016 from a two-year layoff following the birth of her son, was seeking to become the first woman in Olympic history to win an individual athletics event three times in a row.

Ayana will now turn her attention to her preferred 5,000m distance, in which she is favourite to win and become only the second woman after Dibaba to claim gold in both the 5,000 and 10,000 in the same Games.

Rudisha cruises, keeps mum on disgraced coach David Rudisha cruised into the semi-finals of the men’s 800m but kept mum on the Kenyan coach sent home in disgrace after having tried to impersonate an athlete for a doping test.

Sprint coach John Anzrah offered a urine sample in place of 800m medal hope Ferguson Rotich, who finished fourth in last year’s world championships in Beijing.

Anzrah was immediately sent home by the Kenyan Olympic Committee, but with no action having yet been taken against Rotich, the 800m runner competed in Friday’s heats and duly qualified for Saturday’s semi-finals.

Rotich did not linger long under the eye of the media, sprinting past awaiting journalists after his race.

A third Kenyan, Alfred Kipketer, also shook off questions.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” a flustered Kipketer answered when asked about the Rotich situation.

Rudisha fired out a warning to rivals on the track at the Olympic Stadium, pulling away at 600m to clock the fastest qualifying time of 1min 45.09sec and will be joined in the semi-finals by a host of favourites including Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman, Bosnian Amel Tuka, Poland’s Adam Kszcot and American Boris Berian.

Botswana’s Commonw-ealth champion and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos, however, failed to make the cut, fading down the home stretch to come in 5sec down on the lead time.

“It was good,” said Rudisha.