By David Melly
May 29, 2024
Beatrice Chebet’s second-ever 10,000m went about as well as you could possibly hope.
The 24-year-old had only raced 25 laps once before, at altitude in Nairobi in March 2020, where she ran 33:29.7. Since then, she’s improved her 5000m personal best from 14:46.12 to 14:05.92, picked up silver and bronze medals at Worlds, and won two World XC titles. So it’s somewhat unsurprising that she was in for a big personal best in her sophomore effort on the track. But what was more surprising was the ease with which Chebet stuck on, then dramatically dropped the World champion in the event, Gudaf Tsegay, who was headlining a much-hyped world record attempt. Tsegay did all the leading once the rabbits stepped off, but with three laps to go it was Chebet (perhaps worried about Tsegay’s 3:50 1500m speed), who took off and left Tsegay in the dust – relatively speaking, given that the Ethiopian still clocked the third fastest time in history.
Chebet got a whole bunch of victories: the Pre Classic win, the world record, the first women’s sub-29 ever on the track, a spot on the Kenyan Olympic team, and of course, a 4+ minute personal best.
After the race, Chebet announced her intent to take on the 5000m/10,000m double in Paris. While this would be the Kenyan’s Olympic debut, it’s easy to see why she would seek such an ambitious schedule: she very well might be the favorite right now for double gold. There are at least four women who could stand in her way, but all of them have presented fairly significant reasons to doubt their gold medal chances:
– Faith Kipyegon: The 1500m/5000m World champ is about as close to unbeatable as unbeatable gets when healthy, but she pulled out of Pre Classic with injury issues and won’t be competing until Kenyan Trials.
– Sifan Hassan: The double champ from Tokyo has perhaps picked up the “Marathoner’s Hex” as she’s struggled to rediscover her track speed this season. Most recently, she finished 7th in the 5000m at Pre behind a whole bunch of runners less credentialed than Chebet. Plus, she might not even contest one or more track events this Olympics if she shows up in the marathon instead.
– Gudaf Tsegay: Just because she lost here doesn’t mean she can be counted out, as she won 10,000m gold in Budapest and 5000m gold in Eugene. But Tsegay is beatable, and not just by Chebet and Kipyegon – let’s not forget she was outkicked by Elle St. Pierre in Glasgow just two months ago. (Sidenote: St. Pierre’s own medal chances are looking better than ever for these very same reasons.)
– Letesenbet Gidey: The now-former world record holder at 5000m and 10,000m is still very much in the mix for the medals at 26 years old, but Gidey has only raced once this season and it wasn’t particularly impressive – a 14:37.13 third-place finish at the Suzhou Diamond League.
So, there are questions about all the heavy hitters, but there’s no question that Chebet is fit, sharp, and having arguably the best season of her career so far. In our golden age of women’s distance running, it’s likely that no one will complete the double because, quite simply, there are too many good people in the mix. But if we have to make one pick, Prefontaine has us betting big on Chebet.
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.
