Athletics: Joelle Cortis, Gabriel Farrugia set new 5k National Records in Monaco
6601 Min Read
An impressive performance for Joelle Cortis and Gabriel Farrugia in the Principality of Monaco saw them establish a New National Record on the 5km distance while running along side a highly competitive field.
During the World Athletics-approved MonacoRun, Cortis ran a time of 17:25, which, pending verification by Athletics Malta, means a women’s national record over the distance.
Youngster Gabriel Farrugia (Evolve AC) ran a time of 15:27 bettering his own record by a staggering 21 seconds. He finished 40th overall and third in the Under 20 category.
The male race was won by Jimmy Gressier in 13:12 to regain the European 5km record. The French 25-year-old had gone into the event targeting the area record of 13:14 that had been set by Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa in Herzogenaurach last April, that mark having taken four seconds off the continental record that Gressier had set in Monaco in 2020.
Pacing his run to perfection, the European 10,000m fourth-place finisher managed to take two seconds off the European record and won by 12 seconds ahead of South Sudan’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu. Uganda’s world 5000m bronze medallist Oscar Chelimo finished third in 13:32.
The women’s 5km was won by Kenya’s Mirriam Chebet in 15:40.
Chebet proved her form by finishing third at the Campaccio Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in San Giorgio su Legnano last month and in Monaco she secured a dominant victory, winning by 44 seconds ahead of Norway’s Ine Bakken. Jenipher Contois of France was third in 16:28.
