The Brit drops 6 seconds off the mark in 27:38, while the men’s European record also falls in the Spanish city.
Rory Leonard started his 2025 season in some style after setting a British 10km record in Valencia.
The Brit clocked 27:38, six seconds off the previous mark held by both Mo Farah and Emile Keires.
Farah ran 27:44 in the Vitality London 10,000 in 2010 before Keires equaled that mark in Valencia three years ago.
The Spanish city is a record hot spot and it’s no surprise that countless Brits have achieved huge personal bests.
Charlie Wheeler, who was the second fastest Briton after Leonard, also ran faster than the previous British record.
Alex Yee (Getty)
Alex Yee, the reigning Olympic and world individual triathlon champion, was the third-fastest Briton in the field, clocking 28:07, which puts him 11th on the UK all-time 10km list.
This was his first official 10 km race. Yi boasts a track personal best of 27:54.91 over 10,000m and is part of the. preparation for the London Marathon in April.
Yi will make his debut over 26.2 miles in the British capital and plans to run at least one half-marathon before London.
Elsewhere in Valencia: Phil Sesemann (28:10), Alfie Manthorpe (28:14), Ellis Cross (28:24), James Gormley (28:33), Logan Rees (28:35) and Jacob Allen (28:35) ): ) all achieved personal bests.
The British man over 10km is still Nick Rose, who ran 27:34 in New Orleans in 1984, but it was not officially recognized as a national record by UK Athletics.
Amy-Eloise Neal (Getty)
In the women’s field in Valencia, Amy-Eloise Neill ran 31:15 to finish seventh on the all-time UK 10km list.
She was the fastest Briton in the field, with Jessica Warner-Judd, who will compete in next weekend’s Houston Half Marathon, clocking 31:54.
Andreas Almgren (Valencia 10 km)
The men’s European 10 km record was broken in Valencia
In one of the great Valencia 10km finishes of all time, Andreas Almgren edged Dominique Lobalu by just one second in a really tight battle.
The pair clocked 26:53 and 26:54 respectively, both well clear of the previous European 10km record (27:04) held by France’s Etienne Daguinos.
Kenya’s Vincent Langat, who ran 26:55 and also came close to victory, edged Almgren and Lobalu but settled for third.
Almgren, a world junior 800m bronze medalist since 2014, has recently found his sweet spot as a distance runner; he just missed the 10,000m podium at last year’s European Championships.
Dominic Lobalu (Getty)
Lobalu also became the European champion in the 5000 m and finished fourth in the Olympic final in Paris over the same distance.
He and Almgren are now 10th and 11th on the all-time world 10km list.
Down the field there were also a number of national records, one of which was Ireland’s Ephraim Gidey, who bettered John Treacy’s long-standing mark of 27:46 from 1985.
Gidey, who trains with Leonard in the Hoka-backed Makou Endurance group, clocked 27:43 in 20th, underscoring the power behind the fast times in Valencia.
Spain’s Ilias Fifa, the 2016 European 5000m champion but also serving a four-year doping ban from 2018 to 2022, set a national home record of 27:41.
Helen Ekalale Lobun (Valencia 10 km)
East Africa dominates the women’s race
Helen Ekalale Lobun won the Valencia 10km in 29:30.
The Kenyan, who is fifth on the world’s all-time 10km list, beat Ethiopia’s Girmavit Gebrzihair, the 2019 world junior cross country champion, by just four seconds.
Kenyan and Ethiopian runners dominated the top 10, while the leading European was Slovenia’s Klara Lukan, who finished 12th and missed her own national record of 31:07 by three seconds.
France’s Mekdes Woldu clocked 31:43 and Belgium’s Lisa Rooms clocked 31:47.
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