In her first race of the season, Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal blasted to a 14:39 5km clocking just outside Jessheim in Norway on Saturday (1).
If ratified, Grovdal’s time will improve the official world record held by Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech by four seconds. Great Britain’s Beth Potter ran 14:41 in early April although that time is yet to be ratified.
The race took place on a 1.6km looped course and Grovdal won by more than one minute from Amalie Saeten in 15:56.
“This is not really that surprising because her training has been going very well,” said her coach Knut Jæger Hansen as quoted by NRK.
He added: “It is difficult to say anything about her Olympic chances, but she is in such good shape that she can be in a final. She can run at a higher pace now without getting tired. She has trained very well for many years now, and that is the main reason.”
This was Grovdal’s second successive record-breaking performance on the roads after concluding her abbreviated 2020 campaign with a 30:32 10km clocking to smash the Norwegian record held by the legendary Ingrid Kristiansen.
Grovdal won a bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase, the event in which she came to prominence as a teenager in the late 2000s, but she is planning to focus on the 5000m and 10,000m this summer.
Grovdal will race over 10,000m next weekend when she will attempt to secure the Olympic qualifying time of 31:25.00.
Sondre Nordstad Moen also ran a solo 61:54 half marathon.
