Klara Lukan becomes first European woman to run sub-30min 10km
Slovenian athlete clocks 29:50 at the Laredo 10km in Spain to beat Megan Keith's European record.
Klara Lukan of Slovenia smashed Megan Keith's European women's 10km record of 30:07 at the Laredo 10km on Saturday (April 18) and with 29:50 she becomes the first European woman to break the 30-minute barrier.
Lukan, 25, swiped a big chunk off her 30:26 PB set in Castellón, Spain, last year.
A familiar face to British fans, she set her 10,000m PB of 31:13.18 at the Night of the 10,000m PBs in 2024 and ran a Slovenian 3000m record of 8:44.80 in Birmingham indoors in 2023.
At major championships she won the world university 10,000m title last year and took 10km bronze at the European Road Running Champs, while she was fifth in the 10,000m at the European Championships in Rome in 2024.
Such is her talent, she beat Nadia Battocletti of Italy by six seconds at the 2019 European Under-20 Champs over 5000m with Battocletti going on to win Olympic and world medals plus a world indoor title last month.
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It is the fourth time the European 10km record has been broken this year with Jana Van Lent and Eilish McColgan breaking the mark in January.
"This is a historic feat," said Lukan, "I am the first from Europe to run below the magic mark. I did what I had imagined and what I had planned with coach Tevž Korent, who believed in me. He had told me some time ago that I could run the European record, that I was ready for it, and that is what happened."
Konstanze Klosterhalfen was runner-up in a German record of 30:37 with Biniam Mehary of Ethiopia winning the men's race in 26:55 from Hagos Eyob as Britain's Rory Leonard was third in 27:57.
