World 10,000 m bronze medallist Rhonex Kipruto led a Kenyan 1-2 at the Fernanda Ribeiro Gold Gala in Portugal on Saturday.
Kipruto clocked 27:11.01 ahead of Shadrack Koech (27:59.19). Kipruto is using the event as preparation for the start of the Diamond League meetings later this month and the Kenyan Olympic trials which are slated for June in Eldoret
In other results world 1500m bronze medallist Gudaf Tsegay blazed a 29:39.42 10,000m debut at the same event.
The 24-year-old, who won the 5000m at the Ethiopian Championships in 14:49.7 last month, went through halfway in around 14:55 and continued to pick up the pace.
It is the fastest ever women's 10,000m debut, improving Almaz Ayana's 30:07.00 from 2016, and puts Tsegay fifth on the world all-time list.
Her 29:39.42 was not the only impressive debut performance, however, as Bahrain's Kalkidan Gezahegne, racing for the first time since 2018, ran 29:50.77 for second place, making it just the second 10,000m race in history in which two women have finished inside 30 minutes. Uganda's Doreen Chesang was third in 32:09.82.
Elsewhere, world triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas started her Olympic season in style, leaping a world-leading 15.14m (2.0m/s) to win at the Meeting Toni Bonet in Ibiza, Spain, on Saturday.
Venezuela’s world indoor record-holder, who jumped 15.43m in February last year and has an outdoor best of 15.41m from 2019, achieved her 15.14m in the second round and backed it up with 15.01m (0.3m/s) in the fourth round, though was disappointed with her three fouls.
It is the Olympic silver medallist’s best-ever season opener, improving on the 15.06m she jumped to start her 2019 summer.
“I am happy with my result today but at the same time I am also disappointed about those fouls,” Rojas said. “I am going to go back home and work even harder to get ready for this season which is very important for me. The Olympic Games are just around the corner now.
“I am very happy to be back in Ibiza. Last year we couldn’t jump because the weather was so bad.”
The 2019 European indoor champion Ana Peleteiro jumped 14.31m (0.8m/s) to finish second.
