Kenya’s long-distance star Beatrice Chebet surged to a dramatic victory to win the women’s 10,000 metres at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, securing her first ever global track title in that event and delivering Kenya’s first gold of the meet.
With a final-lap kick that left her rivals trailing, Chebet crossed the line in 30:37.61 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, edging out Italy’s Nadia Battocletti and defending champion Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia.
Chebet, 25, came into Tokyo already carrying a formidable résumé: Olympic champion in both the 5,000m and 10,000m, and holder of the women’s 10,000m world record. But until today she had not claimed gold at a World Athletics Championships on the track in this distance. That changed in emphatic fashion.
The race unfolded as a tactical battle. Battocletti and Tsegay pushed the pace in the latter stages, with splits close and a tight pack contesting the lead.
As the final lap approached, Chebet made her move. She stayed composed behind the leaders, conserving enough energy for a blistering last bend and home straight that left her competitors unable to respond.
“I told myself, I don’t have a World Championship gold, so I must get one,” Chebet said shortly after her triumph. “It was a tough, very tactical race, but I ran the last 800 m really hard. I want that gold medal so much.”
Battocletti, who crossed second in 30:38.23, set a new Italian national record in the process and scored her country’s first ever World Championships medal in the women’s 10,000m event. She expressed pride in her performance, though conceding she could not match Chebet’s finishing speed.
Tsegay, the defending champion, claimed bronze in 30:39.65. While she led briefly in the final stretch before Chebet’s surge, the humid conditions and fierce closing kick by the Kenyan ultimately denied her defence of the title.
For Kenya, Chebet’s victory marks the end of a ten-year drought in the women’s 10,000m event at World Championships. The last Kenyan woman to win gold in this discipline was Vivian Cheruiyot in 2015.
Chebet’s rise has been rapid but steady. Born in Kericho in 2000 and nicknamed “The Smiling Assassin,” she has been a dominant force in distance running since her junior years.
She won gold in the under-20 5,000m at the World U20 Championships in 2018, has won multiple world cross-country titles, and in 2024 set the 10,000m world record (28:54.14) at Eugene. She also took both 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic golds in Paris last year.
Asked what motivates her, Chebet said: “I am a World Cross Country champion, I am an Olympic champion, and now I am a World Champion. I am so proud of myself.” She gave credit to her supporters and to the discipline required to race smart.
Looking ahead, Chebet now aims to double up in Tokyo by winning both the 5,000m and 10,000m, following the model of running greats such as Tirunesh Dibaba and Vivian Cheruiyot.
Should she succeed, she will join a rarefied list of distance runners who have claimed both titles at a major global championship.