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Agnes Ngetich is currently basking in the glory of her 10-kilometre road world record in Valencia last weekend but her agent has tipped her to hit the heights of superstar Faith Kipyegon
Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich is currently enjoying the spotlight after her stunning performer at the Valencia Ibercaja race in Spain last weekend where she set a new 10-kilometer road world record.
Ngetich ran a stunning 28:46, shaving 28 seconds from the previous 10k world record, held by Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw.
It has been a meteoric rise for the 22-year-old who until 2022 was still in school. While many were surprised at her performance, normally a preserve of experienced runners, for her agent Davor Savija of Ikaika Sports, it has been long coming and just the beginning.
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08:00 - 18.01.2024
ATHLETICS Who is Agnes Ngetich? The Kenyan youngster taking the world of athletics by storm
A look into the bumpy journey of Agnes Ngetich, the youngster who shattered the 10km world record in Valencia to become the first woman to run under 29 minutes over the distance.
“This is a generational talent that is here to stay,” Savija told LetsRun. “This is some kind of Faith Kipyegon in the making,” he added, comparing the youngster to the triple world and Olympics 1,500m champion.
Savija has watched Ngetich through the ranks. Like Kipyegon, she ran barefoot in her formative years, featuring in a number of U20 races at home and abroad.
In 2017 when she was aged just 16, Savija already knew he had a top athlete on his hands when he shared a photo of her humble house on Instagram, captioning it, “Livingroom of one major #Kenyan distance #runner in the making – purest diamond in the rough one could imagine.”
At the time, she would shuttle between school and training which affected her athletics performance.
Still, she won the 5,000m at the Kenya African Under-20 trials in 2019 aged 18, then managed eighth place at the 2021 Olympics trials, missing a spot in the team by 13 seconds.
Things changed for the better when she finished school and joined Savija’s camp in Iten under coach Julien Di Maria, giving her access to what pro athletes enjoy.
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11:00 - 16.01.2024
ATHLETICS Agnes Ngetich eyes new challenges after stunning 10km world record
Kenya's Agnes Ngetich recently broke 10km world record and now eyes on major future athletic events.
“Now [she] has a dream, now has food, now has three or four pacemakers, now has 150km weeks, now has Lornah [Kiplagat]’s [all-weather] track,” Savija said of the conditions at the camp.
“Her World Athletics statistics, they don’t say the story of schooling – going to school [until 2022], physically not training at all in her last year, when she was [studying for] matriculation exams. Gaining weight, going through puberty, all of these things.”
Since going to camp, Ngetich run 30:30 in 10k at the 2022 Brasov Running Festival in Romania, managed third place at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships before finishing sixth in 10,000m at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
She returned to Brasov and ran 29:24 last September thinking she had broken the women’s-only 10k record but the course did not meet the standards.
Two months later, Ngetich timed 29:26 in Lille before put the icing on the cake with her blistering 28:46 in Valencia last weekend to complete what had been long coming.
“On a perfect day in Valencia with a perfect course with a perfect pacemaker, she finally gets an opportunity to express the shape,” said Savija.
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16:00 - 14.01.2024
ATHLETICS Agnes Ngetich reacts after breaking the 10km world record in Valencia
22-year-old Agnes Ngetich has spoken after her breathtaking run that saw her break the 10km world record at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja.
“She’s been in this shape now for six months. But because people like to speak about shoes and doping, they are [too] lazy to look at the statistics.”
With the World Cross Country Championships coming up in March before the Paris Olympics, Savija will be hoping that Ngetich maintains her shape and form to clinch gold at a global event which will set her on the path to emulating Faith Kipyegon.
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