Caroline Nyaga says she stunned even herself in Tokyo, after clocking a jaw-dropping 14:19 to win the ASICS Tokyo Speed Race and climb to joint third on the women’s all-time 5km list — a performance she never saw coming.
Nyaga stormed to a new
lifetime best that now ranks her joint third on the women’s world 5km
all-time list alongside Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye.
Only
two women in history have gone faster — world 10,000m record holder
Beatrice Chebet, the sole member of the sub-14 club with her 13:54 and
Agnes Ngetich, who sits second with 14:13.
At the Tokyo Speed race, Nyaga led Italy's Nadia Battocletti (14:22) and Maurine Jepkoech (14:40).
Overwhelmed with emotion after the win, Nyaga admitted the result exceeded even her expectations. "I am so grateful and happy with the win. I don't know what to say," Nyaga said after the race.
Coming off a Diamond League appearance in Xiamen, Nyaga admitted that she was fatigued and was not sure she would perform well.
"I was not expecting to run such a time because last Saturday I competed in Xiamen, so I was a bit tired," Nyaga added.
"I am so happy, I even cried because of this achievement."
In Xiamen, Nyaga was entered in the 5,000m race, where she clocked 14:33.24 for eighth place. Chebet (14:27.12), Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay (14:28.18) and Birke Haylom (14:28.80) completed the podium.
Nyaga
will now be hoping to shift momentum to preparations for the Tokyo
World Championships after having already met the 14:50 entry mark in the
5,000m.
Her
results in Tokyo adds to her extensive resume on the roads which has
seen her claim 5K victories in Lille 2023 (14:35) and Paris 2024 (14:40)
and a runners up finish in Leicester 2024 (14:59). In the 10K, she won the 2023 Ibiza race (30:48) and finished second in Swansea 2017 (32:49).
She
holds two half Marathon victories in Malaga 2023 (1:07:36) and Tokyo
2022 (1:08:23) and third place finishes in Cardiff 2024 (1:07:17) and
Trento 2019 (1:10:00).
Nyaga
had kicked off her 2025 campaign with the cross country circuit,
securing second place in the 2km loop at the National Championship,
clocking 7:05 behind Purity Chepkirui (7:02).
Meanwhile,
Samwel Nyamai clocked 13:11 to place third in the men's race in Tokyo,
trailing Uganda's Harbert Kibet (13:00) and Djibouti's Mohamed Ismail
(13:10).
In the men's 10K,
Victor Kipruto (27:11) and Vincent Langat (27:11) claimed positions two
and three, trailing Ethiopia's Jemal Yimer (27:10).
