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On Monday, World Athletics announced the certification of six new world records, three in the professional system and three in the U20 category, spanning both track and road events.

The highlight of the announcement was the long-awaited record of Kejelcha’s 10km run. His blistering time of 26 minutes and 31 seconds, originally set at the Facsa Castellón 10K in Spain back in February 2025, has now officially entered the world record books.

The revỉew process took more than a year. When Kejelcha crossed the finish line in Spain, his achievement was not initially considered a world record. At the time, the milestone still belonged to Kenyan runner Rhonex Kipruto, who finished his run in 26 minutes and 24 seconds at the Valencia 10K in 2020.

However, Kipruto was subsequently suspended for six years by World Athletics for violating anti-doping regulations to his athlete biological profile, as irregularities were discovered in blood samples dating back to 2018. When Kipruto’s suspension was finalized and his record was revoked, Kejelcha’s 2025 result was approved, according to Canadian Running Magazine.

Kejelcha’s resume boasts impressive personal bests across multiple distances, including the mile (where he once held the indoor world record at 3 minutes and 47.01 seconds), the 3,000m (7 minutes and 23.64 seconds), the 5,000m (12:38.95) and the 10,000m track event (26:31.01).

He further cemented his place in history earlier this year at the 2026 London Marathon. Making his debut at the tournament, Kejelcha shattered the two-hour barrier with a staggering time of 1:59:41. Despite the stunning effort, he still finished second behind champion Sabastian Sawe, who crossed the line in 1:59:30.

Yomif Kejelcha was recognized as the 10km world record

In addition to Kejelcha’s record, World Athletics officially confirmed five other milestones across senior and junior categories.

American Josh Hoey clocked 1:42.50 in the men’s indoor 800m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in January, shattering Wilson Kipketer’s 28-year-old world record, while Toshikazu Yamanishi set a new record with a time of 1:20:34 at the Japanese Half Marathon Race Walking Championships.

In the U20 category, Australian sensation Gout Gout ran 200m in just 19.67 seconds at the Australian Athletics Championships to break the junior record previously held by legendary sprinter Usain Bolt. He is joined in the youth record books by 17-year-old American Cooper Lutkenhaus, who clocked 1:44.35 in the U20 800m to become the youngest champion at the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, and Ethiopia’s Saron Berhe, who set a new women’s U20 1500m benchmark of 4:01.23 in the Czech Republic.

Notably, Burundian athlete Rodrigue Kwizara, who ran a staggering 26:01 at the Madrid Vintage Run in Spain, which is 30 seconds faster than Kejelcha’s new official record, was not recognized by World Athletics.

According to Athletics Illustratedthe Madrid course features a downhill slope of more than 160m, which heavily exceeds the permitted elevation drop limit set by World Athletics for official record purposes. Therefore, Kwizara’s personal best remains the 26:54 he set at the Adizero: Road to Records event in Germany in 2025.