Despite not running in any competitive race in 2017, Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana came to show us what we have missed after she destroyed the field to win the women’s 10,000m on Day 2 of the London 2017 World Championships.
It was another commanding display by the Olympic Champion and World Record (WR) holder who ran a World Leading time of 30:16.32 to clinch the GOLD, her first in this event at the Worlds.
Ayana was so dominant that the gap she opened up on Tirunesh Dibaba who finished 2nd was as much as 46s. Dibaba, who will be switching to road races very soon, clocked a Season’s Best (SB) of 31:02.69.
Kenya’s Agnes Tirop who was 3rd, ran a lifetime’s best of 31:03.50 to win Bronze, while Alice Nawowuna who was 4th ran an SB, with the next two finishers also recording Personal Bests (PB).
The nature of Ayana’s victory was such that she almost lapped Dibaba whom she led by as much 300m, twice going past other competitors in a dominant fashion as has never been seen before.
Last year she broke the World Record (WR) to win GOLD at the Olympics with a scorching time of 29:17.45. She couldn’t come close to that, adding almost a minute to her time in London, particularly because the initial pace of the race was slow.
Not until she had enough and took matters in her hands like she normally does in races, lighting up the arena with her sheer brilliance and the Ethiopian deservedly got a standing ovation from the crowd as she came through in the home straight.
She will now come back for the 5,000m in a few days, hoping she can successfully double and make up for her near miss in Rio last year.
