Just a month into the new Wanda Diamond League season, it is fair to say that Beatrice Chebet has picked up exactly where she left off in 2024.
The Kenyan distance star conquered the world on multiple occasions last season, sweeping to Olympic gold medals in the 5000m and 10,000m, breaking the 10-kilometre world record at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene and securing her second Diamond Trophy at the series final in Brussels.
That form has continued into this season, with Chebet already the firm favourite to defend her Diamond League title in the women’s 5000m.
After kicking off her campaign with a world lead in Xiamen, Chebet came to Rabat full of confidence and promising to attack her personal best in the 3000m.
As it turned out, she did much more than that, dominating a high-quality field at the Meeting International Mohammed VI to take her second win of the season.
The Wanda Diamond League’s Official Timekeeper OMEGA clocked the Kenyan at 8:11.56 as she crossed the finish line, making her the second-fastest woman of all time over three kilometres.
The time was also an African record and a Diamond League record, making it this week’s OMEGA Moment of the Meeting.
“I am so so happy. I was not preparing a world record attempt. I just came to run my personal best and I
succeeded,” said Chebet.
She insisted, however, that the 3000m world record – currently held by China’s Wang Junxia with 8:06.11 – was very much within her sights.
“I just have to believe in myself and then maybe after some months or years, that world record will come. It is just a matter of time and I don´t want to rush things.”
