As Joshua Cheptegei rewrites the record book, Steve Smythe takes a look back at former global 10,000m marks

While a 10,000m record was set on Wednesday night, there are over 170 years of record-setting over the distance.

Before the official IAAF marks, there is a record of British professional William Jackson running 32:35.0 at Peckham in 1847, which fellow Briton Jack White improved to an unofficial 31:00.0 at Hackney Wick in 1863 during a 7-mile race.

Slower amateur best times were recorded by James Gibb in London in 1877, then the great Walter George ran 32:09.0 at Stamford Bridge during a 7-mile handicap race in 1882.

George improved this to 31:53 in a 10-mile race in London in 1884 and then 31:40.0 later in the year at Stamford Bridge during a 12-mile handicap race.

The next great Brit, Alfred Shrubb, ran 31:02 2/5 during a one-hour race in Glasgow in 1904 but the mark was never ratified.

The first official IAAF record was set in Colombes in 1911 by France’s Jean Bouin who ran 30:58.8

Paavo Nurmi, indisputably the world’s greatest runner of the first half of the 20th century, smashed that mark at Stockholm in 1921 with 30:40.2.

Three years later Ville Ritola ran 30:35.4 in Helsinki but the mark only lasted two months as the Finn won the Olympics in 30:23.2 by half a minute.

Nurmi did not run the 10,000m at Paris (Colombes) as he won the 1500m and 5000m but a month later on a 350m sand track at Koupio he ran 30:06.2.

The record lasted 13 years when the 1936 Olympic 10,000m champion Ilmari Salvinen ran 30:05.6 at Kuovola.

The Finnish record-breaking continued as Taisto Maki ran 30:02.0 at Tampere in 1938 with Salminen fifth and then he improved his record in Helsinki in 1939 when he ran an historic 29:52.6.

Viljo Heino shattered the mark in Helsinki five years later with a startling 29:35.4.

Five years on, Olympic 10,000m champion Emil Zatopek ran 29:28.2 at Ostrava, a race he won by over three minutes.

Three months later Heino responded with a 29:27.2 in Kouvala but Zatopek responded himself with 29:21.2 at Ostrava, again winning by three minutes.

The following year (1950), Zatopek shattered his record as he eyed a sub-29 but ran 29:02.6 in Turku.

After winning three golds at the 1952 Olympics, in 1953 he tried again at Stara Boleslav in 1953 and ran a frustrating 29:01.6.

In 1954 at Brussels, the great Czech finally reached his target as he ran 28:54.2.

Two years later the record fell to Hungarian Sandor Iharos who ran 28:42.8 at Budapest.

It lasted two months until Vladimir Kuts, who would later in the year win double Olympic gold in Melbourne, ran 28:30.4 in Moscow in front of a 100,000 crowd.

Pyotr Bolotnikov, who finished second in that race a lap behind and went on to inherit Kuts’ Olympic 10,000m crown in Rome, ran 28:18.8 in Kiev in 1960.

Two years later he improved his record marginally to 28:18.2 in the USSR Championships in Moscow.

In 1963 at the Emil Zatopek Run at Melbourne, Ron Clarke ran 28:15.6.

In 1965, Clarke ran 28:14.0 at Turku but it was not recognised because he did not have permission to participate.

It did not matter as a month later in Oslo, Clarke ran an incredible 27:39.4 to take 36 seconds off his previous record.

Seven years later, despite a fall at halfway, Lasse Viren won the Olympic Games in 27:38.4 with silver medallist Emiel Puttemans (27:39.6) just missing the previous record.

Dave Bedford finished sixth in that race having set a furious early pace and at the following year's AAA Championships at Crystal Palace the Briton ran 27:30.8 as he won by 48 seconds from Tony Simmons.

The record lasted four years when it was marginally beaten by Kenyan Samson Kimobwa, who ran 27:30.5. Simmons was fourth in 27:43.59.

The record stayed in Kenya as Henry Rono (who was also to set 3000m, 5000m and steeplechase records in 1978) ran 27:22.4.

Jos Hermens (pictured above with Kenenisa Bekele), who organised the Valencia record attempt in 2020, was the pacemaker for the first eight laps.

The record returned to Europe when the enigmatic Portuguese Fernando Mamede ran 27:13.81 in beating his compatriot Carlos Lopes who clocked 27:17.48 at Stockholm to break the old mark.

Later that year in the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, Lopes would win the marathon while Mamede dropped out of the 10,000m.

The record lasted five years as Mexican Arturo Barrios improved it to 27:08.23 in Berlin. Andy Bristow of Britain was fourth in 28:28.04.

In Stockholm in 1993, Kenyan Richard Chelimo ran 27:07.91 in a race Briton Paul Evans was fourth in 27:47.79. Chelimo was aged just 21 days and 72 days and became the youngest ever 10,000m record-setter.

The record also only lasted five days.

Yobes Ondieki, who won the 1991 world 5000m title, made history when he ran 26:58.38 at Oslo. The British run of fourth places continued as Richard Nerurkar ran 27:40.03.

William Sigei had been second in that race in 27:16.81 and a year later in the same meeting, Sigei ran 26:52.23.

At Hengelo in 1995, Haile Gebrselassie set his first world record over 25 laps when he ran 26:43.53 to lap the whole field.

In Brussels a year later Salah Hissou, who went on to win the 1999 World Championships 5000m, ran 26:38.08.

Another year and there was another record when Gebreselassie ran 26:31.32 in Oslo but it only lasted a month as Paul Tergat ran 26:27.85 (a minute quicker than he had run in Sigei’s record run three years earlier). Hissou finished third and Evans eighth.

Tergat’s record only lasted a year as his great rival Gebrselassie ran 26:22.75 in Hengelo in 1998. It was remarkably the eighth record in five years though only two more records would be set in the next 22 years.

Both of those would be set by his fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele (pictured), who like his great compatriot would win four world titles and two Olympic golds over 25 laps.

Bekele ran 26:20.31 in Ostrava in 2004 and then 26:17.53 in Brussels in 2005.

The first race was notable for a 57-second last lap while in the second race, he was paced by his brother Tariku to halfway in 13:09.19 and he covered the last 1500m in 3:52.

Boniface Kiprop set a Ugandan record of 26:39.77 (which lasted as a national record until Cheptegei's run 15 years later) while Sammy Wanjiru set a world junior record of 26:41.75.

Click here to read more about Joshua Cheptegei’s world record of 26:11.00 run in Valencia.

World record progression

(Lead photo via Global Sports Communication)

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