by Perri Williams
There was an abundance of records broken this morning at Valencia in a 10km event that has been dubbed the “world’s fastest 10k”. Sweden’s Andreas Almgren won the event in 26:53 breaking the European record and becoming the first European to break 27 minutes for the distance. Ireland’s interest lay in Eifrem Gidey who surpassed John Treacy’s 40-year-old national record by three seconds to record a new Irish record of 27:43 and bag 20th place. This is the second Irish record that Dubliner has recorded in the space of a few months.
Almgren the World Junior bronze medallist from 2014 was caught in a dual with South Sudan’s Lobalu (now competing with Switzerland) over the final stages with the Swede kicking hard over the final 50m to take the victory in a new European record.
In eight place Santiago Catrofe (Uruguay) set a new South American record of 27:16, while Rory Leonard (GB) finished 15th recording 27:38 to eclipse the British 10km record previously held by both Mo Farah and Emile Cairess. Other records set were by Jacob Sommer (Denmark) and of course Gidey taking the Irish 10k to new heights.
Hellen Ekalale Lobun (Kenya) won the ladies race in 29:30, pulling clear of Girmawit Gebrzihair Gebru (Ethiopia) in the closing stages. The ladies top ten consisted of five Kenyan’s and five Ethiopians – a powerhouse of African dominance.
This was an emphatic performance for Gidey who back in September clocked 60:51 in Copenhagen for a new Irish half marathon record. His form over the longer distances suggests a promising 2025 beckons as he continues to train with his Hoka team. Since finishing his studies, the Clonliffe Harriers athlete has sighed a professional contract with Hoka and has been guided by Andy Hobdell in the UK. Born in Eritrea, Gidey felt his home country in 2016 and after a stint in a holding camp in Calais he came to Ireland in 2017 where he joined Clonliffe Harriers. He competed in Irish schools’ championships winning several cross-country events and has represented Ireland at Cross-Country. One of his most successful European cross-country outings was in 2019 where he finished 3rd in the u20 event.
With a best of 27:40.02 on the track, Gidey’s next move will be to tackle the Irish 10,000m record which is currently held by Alistair Cragg. This he plans to do in California in March. For now, the next stop is Flagstaff, Arizona where he will complete an altitude training camp.
Other Irish to perform well were Moy Valley’s Keelin Kilrehill who finished 72nd in a new personal best of 28:51. Kilrehill has just five weeks to go before he races the Barcelona half-marathon. The third Irishman home was William Fitzgerald (Craughwell) who recorded 29:21 to knock almost a minute off his previous personal best and finished 102nd.