An Oromo athlete, Almaz Ayana,  becomes the fastest runner ever seen before.  She ran the fastest 10 000m race in history in 29:17.45 during the 2016 Summer Olympics beating the previous world record by more than 14 seconds, a record that Wang Junxia had held for 23 years. Junxia had held for 23 years.

Almaz Ayana Eba (born 21 November 1991) competes in the 3000 metres and 5000 metres event. She set a new 10000 metres world record, breaking the old one set in 1993, during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.

She won bronze medal in 5000 m event at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics held in Moscow, Russia. In the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, Almaz won the 5000m course beating Genzebe Dibaba by a long distance.

Almaz won her first senior title over 5000 metres at the 2014 African Championships in Marrakech, defeating favourite Genzebe Dibaba in a championship record time of 15:32.72.  One month later in the same stadium, she won the 5000m representing Africa at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup by over 24 seconds.

Almaz ran a personal best of 14:14.32 over 5000 metres at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai in 2015, improving upon her previous record of 14:25.84 which she had set in Paris in 2013. This made her the third fastest female athlete over that distance, behind compatriots Tirunesh Dibaba, the world record holder, and Meseret Defar.

On June 2, 2016 Almaz Ayana ran 5000 metres in 14:12.59 at IAAF Golden Gala in Rome. 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.

Rio Olympics 2016

The Oromian athlete  representing Ethiopia takes 14 seconds off a 23-year-old mark; Molly Huddle breaks the U.S. record.

Last year’s world champion, Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya, took silver in 29:32.53, just off of the previous world record of 29:31.78, set by Wang Junxia of China in 1993. Oromo athlete Tirunesh Dibaba, winner of the last two Olympic titles, overtook early leader Alice Aprot of Kenya to get the bronze medal in 29:42.56, a lifetime best that was 14 seconds faster than the previous Olympic record she set in 2008.

Molly Huddle of USA finished sixth in 30:13.17, an American record that took 9 seconds off the mark Shalane Flanagan set while winning bronze at the 2008 Games. Emily Infeld finished 11th in 31:26.94, a personal best. The third American, Marielle Hall, finished in 33rd in 32:39.32.

Aprot, who had the world-leading time heading into the race, set a fast pace from the start. She led a group of seven through halfway in 14:46.81, just off of world record pace. Huddle ran with the leaders through the first four kilometers, but then fell off, which is understandable given that the leaders passed 5,000 meters just 4 seconds slower than her U.S. record at the distance.

But even Aprot’s pace was too slow for Ayana, who surged into the lead and broke the pack apart with 12 laps to go. She used the same punishing solo front-running style to break Genzabe Dibaba (Tirunesh’s younger sister) in the 5,000 at the world championships last year. Cheruiyot, who has a strong finishing kick, kept Ayana within a few seconds for several laps, but then couldn’t hang on, leaving only the question of by how much Ayana would break the world record.

Ayana, the second fastest in history at 5,000 meters, is new to the 10,000; her Olympic title and world record was only her second time contesting the distance.