The Night of the 10,000m PBs once again lived up to its reputation and offered thousands of spectators a dizzying display of 10,000m races, personal bests, and two meeting records, as well as a wide array of entertainment options, including the famed raucous cheering tents right on the track, circus acts, a climbing wall, a maze and numerous more in-field activities.
Two meet records in the elite races
In the men’s elite race, Paul Chelimo of the United States stormed to a dominant victory in 27:12.73 and beat Yeman Crippa’s meeting record by four seconds. On the women’s side, Mizan Alem Adane of Ethiopia tore through a world-class field and won with an advantage of over a minute on runner-up Weini Kelati. Adane’s time of 29:59.03 made her the twelfth woman in history to break the 30-minute barrier.
As the races also were the official British 10,000m championships, Jess Warner-Judd ( overall fourth, 31:09.28) and Andy Butchart (overall tenth, 27:47.43) took the 2023 titles in style.
Personal bests fall in droves in club-level events
Ireland’s Ieuan Hopkins stormed to a new PB and to the win the first of the club-level races that began early in the afternoon and set the tone for what was to follow. Powered by a growing crowd, a grand total of 93 athletes set new personal bests in the course of the day.
Club-level race winners included Harry Smith (30:52.07), Thomas Butler (30:25.79), Erik Tangen Gundersen (29:35.59), and Jennifer Walsh (34:05.15). Iris Downes and Finlay Hutchinson were the winners of the under-20 800m races as a series of events for young athletes held just before the championship 10,000m races took place.
In the men’s B race, On athlete Konstantin Wedel took a commanding win just weeks after his Zurich Half-Marathon triumph. Wedel ran ahead of the pack and even of the pacing wave light most of the time and finished in 28:51.24.
Next to Wedel, a of track athletes from the On roster were in action in London: Amy-Eloise Markovc and Verity Ockenden were tenth and 17th in the women’s A race. Tuscany Camp’s Francie Niyomukunzi set a new personal best of 31:27.47 and claimed rank 11. Her teammate Egide Ntakarutimana came in fourth at Paul Chelimo’s triumph, and Norway’s Zerei Kbrom took position sixth in the men’s elite race. Jamal Abdelmaji was 17th, and Filimon Abraham ended his first race in On with position 18. Therence Bizozza was 19th, and OAC Europe team member Sebastian Frey and Yohannes Chiappinelli were 27th and 28th, respectively, both setting new personal bests in the process.
All results here: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2023/GBR/not/event/
Watch the event live stream recording here:
Heder image: Filimon Abraham racing in Highgate’s famous spectator tunnel. Credit: Tom Weatherwill/On
