Mission accomplished: Set two world records with a length of 5 km on New Years Eve in Barcelona

31.12.2021

| The last race in 2021

Svenja Saber / Evening

Organizers announced the “Cursa dels Nassos” (running noses) on New Year’s Eve as a world record chase. And they kept their word: for both men and women, the declared records fell for a distance of more than five kilometers – and both went to Ethiopia. Ejigaiho Taye and Priho Aregawi are the new record holders.

Ejegayehu Taye and Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia broke world records* at a distance of five kilometers on Friday evening at the “Cursa dels Nassos” in Barcelona (Spain). Organizers of the traditional New Year’s Eve race announced the race in advance as an attack on record labels. At 14:19 minutes, 21-year-old Ty was 24 seconds faster than the mixed sprint record endorsed by World Athletics by Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya).

Her fellow countrywoman of the same age, who had already sniffed Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda; 12:51 min) in 12:52, improved the world record by one second to 12:50. In the first kilometer, the arigawi accompanied the pacemaker, and then broke the record on his own. Second-placed Peter Maru (Uganda; 13:30 min) was far from this year’s Diamond League winner by over 5,000 metres.

The world record in the second road race of his career

Since the men and women started at the same time (the starting pistol fired at 7:15pm), Ejegayehu Taye was able to use some of the male race participants as a pacemaker. Early in the race she withdrew from Swede Merav Bahta, who finished second with a time of 15:04. For Taye, this was only the second race of her career: in 2018 she won over 10km in the New Year’s Eve race at Saarbrücken. In the summer, she grabbed attention with an Ethiopian record over 3,000m (8:19.52min) and the second fastest time in the world for 5,000m on the track this year (14:14.09min).

Sunbir Teferi (Ethiopia; 14:29 min) set the fastest time ever for a woman over five kilometers in the women’s race at Herzogenaurach in September. It’s also clear that Taye is undercut this time around in Barcelona. The IAAF evaluates the “women only” and “mixed race” records separately.

*Subject to World Athletics Certification

To the full results from Barcelona