September 15, (THEWILL) – Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba on Tuesday broke the world record for the 2000m in a time of 5:21.56 seconds at the Continental Tour Gold event in Croatia.
The new record is almost three seconds faster than the old one set by Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba in 2017.
Niyonsaba narrowly missed breaking the record at the Pre Classic last month, but after winning Diamond League races in Brussels and Zurich, has now successfully beaten it.
Niyonsaba claimed the record for the rarely run distance after surging away from Ethiopian Freweyni Hailu in the closing stages of the race.
Her progress was remarkable as she passed the 400m mark in 64.50, 800m in 2:09.22, 1000m in 2:41.37 and the bell in 4:20.23 before finishing strongly to beat Hailu, who clocked 5:25.86 in second.
With the new record, she becomes the first athlete with differences of sexual development (DSD) to break a world record. DSD designation points to high testosterone levels in a female athlete.
Due to her relatively high testosterone levels, Niyonsaba was forced to switch from her favoured 800m distance to run in events further than one mile.
In her post-race remarks, an excited Niyonsaba said: “I am feeling seriously wonderful. I didn’t realise I could run a world record, but it was my first time here. I came here to do what I have to do. I did it. It’s wonderful and it’s fabulous. The pacing was really perfect. I want to thank all the people who came to cheer us.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
