Joshua Cheptegei, the reigning world champion in the 10’000m and world record holder in the 5000m took to the roads of Monaco for Valentines day 2021 - setting out to beat his previous 5km record of 12:51. Cheptegei’s record last year shaved 27 seconds off the official 5km record, so understandably there was a lot of excitement around the race yesterday. Cheptegei eased home in 13:11, 4 seconds ahead of second place Bethwell Birgen and 5 seconds of Davis Kiplangat in third. Despite the mens record not being broken Cheptegei once again proved to be the best in his field.

The major highlight of the race was steeplechase world champion, Beatrice Chepkoech - breaking the women’s 5km road worlds record in 14:43! Battling with windy conditions, Chepkoech set the pace from the beginning, taking a second off the previous 5km record. Chepkoech passed the first km in around 2:57, with the cameras then focussing on second place Meraf Bahta running solo. It wasn’t until the last 100m (approximately) that the cameras caught up with Beatrice Chepkoech, with the commentators then realising the record was about to be broken. Swedens Meraf Bahta came second in 15:46, and Alice Finot from France third in 15:32. 

Images: Dan Vernon