Athletics: Ethiopian Gidey smashes women’s 5,000 metres world record

VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey demolished the women’s 5,000 metres world record by more than four seconds on Wednesday at the Valencia World Record Day, crossing the line in 14 minutes 6.62 seconds.

Gidey, 22, easily beat the previous record of 14:11.15 set by her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba in Oslo in 2008.

Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei is targeting the men’s 10,000 metres world record later on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Richard Martin, editing by Ed Osmond)