Kenyan long-distance runner Agnes Ngetich smashed the 10km world record in Herzogenaurach on Saturday, becoming the first woman to run the distance in under 30 minutes in a women-only race.
Historic 👏
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) April 26, 2025
🇰🇪’s Agnes Ngetich smashes the women-only 10km world record in Herzogenaurach 🔥
She clocks 29:27* to become the first woman to ever break 30 minutes in a women-only race 💪
*subject to the usual ratification procedures pic.twitter.com/9GxwSZtypM
Ngetich, 24, clocked a time of 29 minutes and 27 seconds, breaking late Agnes Jebet Tirop's record of 30:01 set in the same German town in 2021.
Ngetich had clocked a time of 29:24 two years back in the women-only 10km race, but the record was not ratified because the course was found to be short by 25 metres.
WORLD RECORD
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) April 26, 2025
Agnes Ngetich has just clocked 29:27 for a women’s only world 10km record at the Adizero Road to Records 🔥
She becomes the first ever woman to have gone sub-30 minutes in a women’s only race ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/7jC5CTirzm
"I'm so excited, I didn't expect this," Ngetich said.
"Last year I missed it by two seconds, so I wanted to come here today and try for it again. I'm so proud of myself. After missing out on the Olympics last year, I want to make up for it this year at the World Championships."
Last year, Ngetich broke the 10km world record in Valencia, becoming the first woman to run the distance in under 29 minutes in a mixed-race event.
She recorded a time of 28:46, breaking Yalemzerf Yehualaw's road mixed race world record.