World Championships: Women's 10,000m
As with the women’s 3000m, a global 10,000m title was awarded before the first IAAF World Championships in Helsinki. The venue for a modest-standard invitational event was Sittard, Netherlands, where Britain’s Kath Binns beat just three other runners in a national record of 32:57.17.
The 10,000m did not take place in Helsinki in 1983, but 1987 saw a top-quality race. World record-holder Ingrid Kristiansen was short of her very best but fooled the opposition as she blitzed away at the start and had a 20-second lead after a kilometre. She was slowing by halfway in 15:21 and lost 10 seconds on the last lap but won by just over three seconds.
Britain’s Liz Lynch was fifth and she returned in Tokyo in 1991 just 10 months after giving birth to daughter Eilish, who herself would become a World Championships finalist in the steeplechase. Under her married name of McColgan, she front-ran to good effect with world junior champion Derartu Tulu the only athlete to stay with her to 8000m. However, the Ethiopian lost a minute in the last 2000m to fade to eighth and McColgan won gold by more than 20 seconds in 31:14.31, which was fast considering the high heat and humidity.
Stuttgart in 1993 was dominated by the Chinese and Wang Junxia’s 8:42 for the last 3000m destroyed the opposition. The current world record-holder won by 23 seconds from Zhong Huandi, who won her second successive silver.
World 5000m record-holder Fernanda Ribiero led for the last 4000m in Gothenburg in 1995 after repelling the challenge of Olympic champion Tulu on the last lap.
In Athens in 1997, Ribeiro was second but this time was well beaten by Sally Barsosio, who became the first Kenyan woman to win a global track title. The winner had been third in 1993 when supposedly aged just 15.
Seville in 1999 saw a superb front-running effort in 30-degree temperatures by Paula Radcliffe and she smashed her Commonwealth and British record by 13 seconds with 30:27.13 to go sixth all-time. However, she had to settle for silver as Gete Wami sprinted past on the last lap and completed a sub-15 last 5km.
Radcliffe tried similar tactics in the Olympic 10,000m and was faster still but ended up fourth so in Edmonton in 2001 she tried a different plan. She kicked only in the last mile, but wasn’t able to shake off the three Ethiopians and it was Tulu, 10 years after her Tokyo effort, who narrowly beat Berhane Adere. Wami was another second behind, pipping a frustrated Radcliffe by just eight hundredths of a second for bronze.
Radcliffe, who was the IAAF athlete of the year in 2002, controversially chose not to compete in Paris in 2003 despite being in world record-breaking road form a few weeks later, but it didn’t affect the pace or the race, which is regarded as the best ever women’s 10,000m. Adere won with a 29.9 last 200m in an African record 30:04.18 and the record times for places were set for second to sixteenth.
In Helsinki in 2005 Radcliffe preceded her marathon win by leading the 10,000m and fading to ninth in a race won by Tirunesh Dibaba courtesy of a 58.4 last lap. Adere was second in her seventh world championships 10,000m.
Dibaba defended her title comfortably in Osaka in 2011, needing only a 60-second final circuit. Jo Pavey just missed out on bronze in fourth.
Ethiopia narrowly lost out on their sixth successive gold in Berlin in 2009 as a celebrating Meselech Melkamu was caught on the line by Kenyan Linet Masai. The winner ran six metres less than Melkamu as cones were in the wrong place at the start. Her time was discounted for statistical purposes but she kept her gold as it was the organisers’ fault.
Kenya dominated in Daegu in 2011 as Vivian Cheruiyot led home a Kenyan top four.
Ethiopia regained their superiority in Moscow in 2013 as Dibaba comfortably won her third 10,000m title, leaving Gladys Cherono two seconds in arrears.
Year | Winner | Time | GB position and mark
1980 Kath Binns (GBR) 32:57.17 (2 Fionnula Morrish (IRL) 33:51.7)
1987 Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR) 31:05.85 5 Liz Lynch 31:19.82
1991 Liz McColgan (GBR) 31:14.31 (2 Zhong Huandi (CHN) 31:35.08)
1993 Wang Junxia (CHN) 30:49.30 No competitor
1995 Fernanda Ribiero (POR) 31:04.99 6 Liz McColgan 31:40.14
1997 Sally Barsosio (KEN) 31:32.92 No competitor
1999 Gete Wami (ETH) 30:24.56 2 Paula Radcliffe 30:27.13
2001 Derartu Tulu (ETH) 31:48.81 4 Paula Radcliffe 31:50.06
2003 Berhane Adere (ETH) (left) 30:04.18 No competitor
2005 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 30:24.02 9 Paula Radcliffe 30:42.75
2007 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 31:55.41 4 Jo Pavey 32:03.81
2009 Linet Masai (KEN) 30:51.24 No competitor
2011 Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN) 30:48.98 No competitor
2013 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 30:43.35 No competitor
Points table (8 for 1st etc)
1. ETH 131
2. KEN 92
3. CHN 50
4. GBR 32
5. USA 27
6. POR 23
7. JPN 22
8. GER 14
9. RUS 13
10. URS 12
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