5000 m, women

What to remember

On July 5, 2025, at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, a Diamond League meeting, Kenya's Beatrice Chebet ran the 5000 m in 13 min 58.06 s. She became the first woman under 14 minutes, a barrier Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay had come close to in 2023 with 14 min 00.21 s. Her average speed was 21.478 km/h.

The 5000 metres is twelve and a half laps of a standard 400 m track. It has been Olympic since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women, who before that ran a 3000 metres race. The women's record has come down steadily: 15 min 53.6 s for Italy's Paola Pigni in 1969, 14 min 37.33 s for Norway's Ingrid Kristiansen in 1986 and 14 min 11.15 s for Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba in 2008. In 56 years the time fell by 12.1%.

Born on March 5, 2000, Chebet also holds the 10,000 metres and road 5k world records. She won both the 5000 and 10,000 m at the 2024 Summer Olympics, repeated the double at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, and is a three-time World Cross Country champion. She trains in Londiani, Kericho County.