Ugandan runner, Peruth Chemutai, has set a new national record and a world lead of 8:55.09 seconds in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at the Eugene Diamond League, Oregon.
Chemutai won a gold medal in the women’s 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, becoming the first Ugandan woman ever to win an Olympic medal.
She has been the Ugandan record holder for the 3000m steeplechase and 5km road race.
On Saturday, May 25, 2024, Chemutai set a new world lead in the 3000m steeplechase after she broke the Ugandan record in 8:55.09, which took three-tenths of a second off of the previous world lead held by Beatrice Chepkoech, Saturday’s runner-up in 8:56.51.
They were the only women under nine minutes.
In a race that was set up as a 10,000m world record attempt, the competitor who initially had no intention of challenging the record became the one ultimately to smash it.
The record now belongs to Beatrice Chebet of Kenya, who ran 28:54.14* to become the first woman under 29 minutes on the track.
That performance, achieved on Saturday (25) at the Prefontaine Classic, is seven seconds faster than the previous world record of 29:01.03 that Letesenbet Gidey established in 2021.
The race opened the Wanda Diamond League meeting with an immediate roar from the Hayward Field crowd.
Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay became the third-fastest all-time performer with her runner-up finish of 29:05.92, as four women ran faster than 30 minutes.
The race also doubled as the selection race for Athletics Kenya’s Paris Olympic team, and Chebet and Lilian Kasait Rengeruk (29:26.89) qualified.
Source: World Athletics
