McColgan runs 30:08 to reclaim the European women’s mark, while Andreas Almgren sets the European men’s record in 26:45 and Joe Wigfield the British record in 27:38.
Eilish McColgan has had a long and difficult journey back from injury over the past three years. The 35-year-old underwent knee surgery, among other things, but has gradually returned to his best form.
He showed that on Sunday (January 11) in Valencia when he reclaimed his European 10km record from Jana Van Lent. 30:09 mark which the Belgian runner only spent a week before McColgan took it to 30:08 on the Spanish roads.
Sunday’s 10K Valencia Ibercaja by Kiprun, to give it its full title, also saw a European men’s record from Andreas Almgren as the Swede improved his previous record from 26:53 to 26:45.
With an incredible amount of PBs and National Records falling, in the chaos of runners charging across the finish line, Joe Wigfield equaled Rory Leonard’s British 10km record: 27:38.
Behind Wigfield, Britain’s Alfie Manthorpe (27:40) and Scott Beattie (27:41) also narrowly missed Leonard’s record.
Leonard set his own national record in Valencia last year, but this weekend he was competing instead of racing. World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee – an event that arguably surpassed Valencia’s impressive road performances.
However, despite all the record-breaking performances, the Valencia race has a slightly chaotic element to it. There was no live result, the online broadcast failed to show McColgan during the race, and with the runners huddled together at the start line, the event was fortunate to avoid a repeat. The infamous stack of the 2023 race.
“It’s my first time in Valencia and I’ve heard incredible things about this race,” McColgan said. “It’s also my first time competing with quite a few men around me, which means I’m never running a race alone. I’m really happy with today.”
Just a few days ago, McColgan was shoveling snow from the inside lanes of a track at a high-altitude training camp for one of his final workouts.
“The last three years have been tough,” McColgan added. “Last year I rushed the London Marathon, but I wanted to work this winter to get my speed back to zero before my next marathon.
“It’s one of those ‘bucket list’ races so I don’t know how I got to my age and I’ve never done it before. I’d love to go back to Valencia for a semester and maybe even a marathon one day.”
Much of the online streaming coverage focused on Almgren as he cut eight seconds off his 12-month European record to also move into sixth place in the all-time world rankings.
“These are still the best conditions,” said Almgren, who led most of the race, “but if I could have the pace in the first 6-7km and then go hard in the last 3km, I could have run faster.”
Second-placed Khairy Bejigan Almgren of Ethiopia dropped in the final kilometer to finish in 26:51 as Kenya’s Victor Kipruto was third in 27:1.
As well as his 10km records, Almgren has enjoyed quite the past 12 months, breaking the European 5000m record of 12:44.27 in Stockholm last summer and then becoming the first European to break the 59-minute half-marathon barrier in 58:41 in Valencia in October.
A weekend that saw the 10km world record holder Agnes Ngetich racing in TallahasseeBrenda Jepchirchir of Kenya won the women’s race in 29:25 as Ethiopia’s Likina Amebau finished second in 29:30 and Kemtai Ndwian of Kenya was third in 29:4.
McColgan was eighth overall with Britain’s Alex Bell next in 11th in 30:57.
Elsewhere, Said Mechal set the Spanish men’s record of 27:25.
