Agnes Ngetich made sure Kenya’s dominance in the senior women’s race continued as she delivered a commanding victory at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Tallahassee 26 on Saturday (10).
Winning by an emphatic 42 seconds, the world 10km record-holder posted the second-largest winning margin in the history of the championships.
She clocked 31:28 for the 10km race to secure her first global title, finishing well clear of Uganda’s Joy Cheptoyek and Ethiopia’s Senayet Getachew.
With Kenya seeking a 10th consecutive senior women’s crown, Ngetich rose to the occasion in the absence of double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet, who is sitting out the 2026 season to start a family.
Ngetich began to assert her authority early, stretching her lead to 25 seconds by halfway.
The gap continued to widen to 31 seconds at the end of the third loop and reached 40 seconds as she entered the final 2km.
Unchallenged at the front, she powered to the finish in 31:28, adding gold to the bronze she won at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst and improving on her fourth-place finish in Belgrade the following year.
Her 42-second winning margin is surpassed only by Grete Waitz’s 44-second victory in 1980.
