Kenya’s distance running dominance has been reaffirmed after World Athletics ratified world records set by Agnes Ngetich in 2025 and Emmanuel Wanyonyi in 2024.

On 26 April 2025, Ngetich became the first woman in history to run under 30 minutes in a women-only 10km race. Competing at the adizero Road to Records event in Herzogenaurach, Germany, she clocked 29:27, shattering the previous mark of 30:01 set by the late Agnes Jebet Tirop in 2021.

The 24-year-old, who also holds the mixed-race 10km record (28:46), reached halfway in 14:37 before storming to victory by more than a minute.

“I’m so excited, I didn’t expect this. Last year I missed it by two seconds, so I wanted to come here today and try for it again. I’m so proud of myself,” Ngetich said after her historic run.

Wanyonyi’s feat came a year earlier, on 27 April 2024, when he set the men’s road mile world record at the same German event. The then-teenager, now the Olympic 800m champion, clocked 3:54.6, improving the previous record of 3:56.13 set by USA’s Hobbs Kessler in October 2023.

“I feel so happy for today. It’s not easy, but I tried to push myself. My coach told me it was possible to break the world record,” Wanyonyi recalled.

Although Britain’s Elliot Giles has since lowered the road mile record to 3:51.3 in Düsseldorf on 1 September 2024, Wanyonyi’s achievement remains a major career milestone.

The ratification comes as Wanyonyi continues to scale new heights. Just this week, the 20-year-old added another accolade to his name by winning his third successive Diamond League 800m crown at the season finale in Zurich.

He clocked 1:42.37 to beat Great Britain’s Max Burgin, adding to a world-leading 1:41.44 he set earlier this year in Monaco.