Ayana gets world record in opener of Olympic track program

Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana demolished the women’s 10,000-metre world record to win gold in the first athletics final of the 2016 Rio Olympics on Friday, finishing her race in a time of 29 minutes and 17.45 seconds.

Vivian Cheruiyot ran a Kenyan record to take silver, but was still more than 15 seconds behind her 24-year-old rival.

Other Americans in the field were 26-year-old OH native and Georgetown alum Emily Infeld, who set a new personal best of 31:26.94 in finishing 11th, and 24-year-old New Jersey native and Texas alum Marielle Hall, who finished 33rd with a time of 32:39.32.

The result eclipses Susan Hobson’s 17th place at Atlanta 1996 and Carolyn Schuwalow’s previous best Australian time of 32:10.05 at Seoul 1988.

It was a bittersweet moment for Dibaba, who had been trying to become the first woman to win an individual event for three Olympics in a row. This made Almaz the second fastest woman ever on 5000 metres, second only to Tirunesh Dibaba, who holds the world record of 14:11.15.

“I really enjoyed it out there although it’s humid, I’d like to have performed a little bit better but at the same time I’m here at my fifth Olympic Games, I’d never have dreamed that possible as a schoolgirl”. “I will be interested to hear what Ayana has to say afterwards”.

The women’s 10,000m world record had stood since 1993, when China’s Junxia Wang clocked 29:31.78. “I would like to have been more competitive, but I gave my best and that is all I could do”.

USA runner Molly Huddle finished sixth in 30:13.17, breaking the American record.

Almaz Ayana’s coach has revealed the secret to her astonishing world record success – daily tonics of turtle’s blood and caterpillar fungus.

But with 12 laps to go Ayana hit the front, accelerating clear to stretch the leading pack. The journalist said Swedish runner Sarah Lahti, who ran a 26 second pr in 31:28.43 for 12th, said afterwards she “didn’t think you were a 100% clean runner” (article here). God has given me everything, every blessing.

Valerie Adams indicated her intentions in qualifying for the shot final, throwing 19.74m in the first round to secure her spot.

It’s Ayan’s first Olympics. There’s no place in the next round for Commonwealth champ Nijel Amos, however, after the first surprise of the competition saw him finish seventh in a heat won by Taoufik Makhloufi in 1:49.17.