Faith Kipyegon wins the 1500m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (© Getty Images)
As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2022 in each area of the sport.
The series continues with a review of the middle and long distance disciplines.
Women’s 800m
Season top list
| 1:56.30 | Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene | 24 July |
| 1:56.38 | Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR | Eugene | 24 July |
| 1:56.71 | Mary Moraa 🇰🇪 KEN | Eugene | 24 July |
| 1:56.98 | Natoya Goule 🇯🇲 JAM | Monaco | 10 August |
| 1:57.02 | Diribe Welteji 🇪🇹 ETH | Eugene | 24 July |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR | 1420 |
| 2 | Mary Moraa 🇰🇪 KEN | 1417 |
| 3 | Natoya Goule 🇯🇲 JAM | 1388 |
| 4 | Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA | 1385 |
| 5 | Ajee Wilson 🇺🇸 USA | 1373 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA | 1:56.30 |
| 🥈 | Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR | 1:56.38 |
| 🥉 | Mary Moraa 🇰🇪 KEN | 1:56.71 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA 1:56.30
World Indoor Championships: Ajee Wilson 🇺🇸 USA 1:59.09
African Championships: Jarinter Mawia Mwasya 🇰🇪 KEN 2:02.80
European Championships: Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR 1:59.04
NACAC Championships: Ajee Wilson 🇺🇸 USA 1:58.47
Oceania Championships: Tess Kirsopp-Cole 🇦🇺 AUS 2:04.63
Commonwealth Games: Mary Moraa 🇰🇪 KEN 1:57.07
Wanda Diamond League: Mary Moraa 🇰🇪 KEN 1:57.63
World U20 Championships: Roisin Willis 🇺🇸 USA 1:59.13
Season at a glance
The rivalry between Athing Mu and Keely Hodgkinson resumed in 2022 but this year Mary Moraa also entered the equation.
After winning Olympic gold as a teenager, Mu became the youngest woman to ever claim both world and Olympic titles in an individual athletics event when she again held off Hodgkinson to secure victory on home soil at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. Clocking a world-leading 1:56.30, Mu maintained her unbeaten year and an outdoor win streak that dates back to September 2019. Her fellow 20-year-old Hodgkinson gained another global runner-up spot, finishing second in 1:56.38, while 22-year-old Moraa dipped under 1:57 for the first time, running a PB of 1:56.71 for bronze. Another 20-year-old, Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji, was just outside 1:57, running a PB of 1:57.02 for fourth.
Those four athletes, along with the consistent Natoya Goule who ran 1:56.98 to win in Monaco and finished fifth in the world final, filled the first five places on the season top list, in a year of record depth for the event. A total of 168 sub-two-minute performances were achieved outdoors by 54 athletes, while the top 100 all dipped under 2:01.40.
One of the surprises of the season was Moraa’s performance at the Commonwealth Games, but not so much her win as the way she ran to claim it. Surging her way to victory, she overtook Laura Muir, Goule and Hodgkinson in the closing stages to triumph in 1:57.07.
Hodgkinson was determined to rebound and did so at the European Championships, winning in Munich in 1:59.04. She had to settle for fifth at the Wanda Diamond League Final, however, as Moraa claimed another big win, clocking 1:57.63 ahead of Goule (1:57.85).
Earlier in the year, Hodgkinson had marked herself as a strong favourite for the world indoor title, running a British record of 1:57.20 to move to sixth on the world indoor all-time list at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Birmingham. The quickest indoor 800m since the world record of 1:55.82 set by Jolanda Ceplak in 2002, it was also coincidentally the fastest indoor 800m of Hodgkinson’s lifetime, as the Briton was born on the exact same date as that world record run.
But injury meant she was unable to build on that performance at the following month’s World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, and there the gold was claimed by USA’s Ajee Wilson – twice a world indoor silver medallist who finally claimed the title, running 1:59.09 to beat Freweyni Hailu and Halimah Nakaayi.
USA’s Roisin Willis was among the outdoor season’s sub-two minute performers as she won the world U20 title in a championship record of 1:59.13.
Men’s 800m
Season top list
| 1:43.26 | Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir 🇰🇪 KEN | Zurich | 8 September |
| 1:43.38 | Marco Arop 🇨🇦 CAN | Zurich | 8 September |
| 1:43.52 | Max Burgin 🇬🇧 GBR | Turku | 14 June |
| 1:43.54 | Wyclife Kinyamal Kisasy 🇰🇪 KEN | Nairobi | 25 June |
| 1:43.65 | Jake Wightman 🇬🇧 GBR | Brussels | 2 September |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir 🇰🇪 KEN | 1394 |
| 2 | Marco Arop 🇨🇦 CAN | 1390 |
| 3 | Jake Wightman 🇬🇧 GBR | 1359 |
| 4 | Slimane Moula 🇩🇿 ALG | 1351 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Wanyonyi 🇰🇪 KEN | 1350 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir 🇰🇪 KEN | 1:43.71 |
| 🥈 | Djamel Sedjati 🇩🇿 ALG | 1:44.14 |
| 🥉 | Marco Arop 🇨🇦 CAN | 1:44.28 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir 🇰🇪 KEN 1:43.71
World Indoor Championships: Mariano Garcia 🇪🇸 ESP 1:46.20
African Championships: Slimane Moula 🇩🇿 ALG 1:45.59
European Championships: Mariano Garcia 🇪🇸 ESP 1:44.85
NACAC Championships: Jonah Koech 🇺🇸 USA 1:45.87
Oceania Championships: Brad Mathas 🇳🇿 NZL 1:53.60
Commonwealth Games: Wyclife Kinyamal Kisasy 🇰🇪 KEN 1:47.52
Wanda Diamond League: Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir 🇰🇪 KEN 1:43.26
World U20 Championships: Ermias Girma 🇪🇹 ETH 1:47.36
Season at a glance
He might not have broken 1:45 in any of his races in the lead up to the World Athletics Championships Oregon 22, but Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir once again timed his peak to perfection. Wanting to add world gold to the Olympic title he won in Tokyo last year, Korir held off the likes of Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and Canada’s Marco Arop with a 1:43.71 performance that would launch him into a stronger second half of his season.
The 27-year-old went on to win in Silesia (1:45.72) and finish third in Brussels (1:44.12) before ending his season on a high by taking the Diamond Trophy in Zurich in a world-leading 1:43.26. Arop was just behind him there, his 1:43.38 ending up as the second-best mark of the season.
Britain’s Max Burgin had gone into the championships in Oregon as the world leader courtesy of the 1:43.52 PB he achieved in Turku, but injury forced him to withdraw before the competition.
Keyna’s Wyclife Kinyamal Kisasy and Britain’s Jake Wightman were also among the eight athletes to dip below 1:44, Kisasy running 1:43.54 in Nairobi in June before retaining his Commonwealth title, and Wightman winning a loaded Diamond League race in Brussels, the recently crowned world 1500m champion running a PB of 1:43.65 to win the shorter event.
In an open season, the eight Diamond League races were won by six different athletes, and among the notable results was the 1:44.00 Australian record set by Peter Bol when finishing second to Benjamin Robert in Paris.
Spain’s Mariano Garcia was the standout performer of the indoor season, running the world lead of 1:45.12 in New York before claiming world indoor gold – his first major championships medal – with a 1:46.20 run in Belgrade.
There he held off Kenya’s Noah Kibet, who ran 1:46.35 to secure the silver and become, at the age of 17, the youngest ever track medallist at the World Indoor Championships. Bronze was bagged by Bryce Hoppel in 1:46.51.
Women’s 1500m
Season top list
| 3:50.37 | Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN | Monaco | 10 August |
| 3:54.21 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | Eugene | 28 May |
| 3:55.28 | Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR | Eugene | 18 July |
| 3:56.63 | Ciara Mageean 🇮🇪 IRL | Brussels | 2 September |
| 3:56.91 | Diribe Welteji 🇪🇹 ETH | Silesia | 6 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN | 1455 |
| 2 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | 1447 |
| 3 | Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR | 1403 |
| 4 | Freweyni Hailu 🇪🇹 ETH | 1382 |
| 5 | Hirut Meshesha 🇪🇹 ETH | 1368 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN | 3:52.96 |
| 🥈 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | 3:54.52 |
| 🥉 | Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR | 3:55.28 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN 3:52.96
World Indoor Championships: Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH 3:57.19
African Championships: Winny Chebet 🇰🇪 KEN 4:16.10
European Championships: Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR 4:01.08
NACAC Championships: Heather MacLean 🇺🇸 USA 4:04.53
Oceania Championships: Claudia Hollingsworth 🇦🇺 AUS 4:12.33
Commonwealth Games: Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR 4:02.75
Wanda Diamond League: Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN 4:00.44
World U20 Championships: Birke Haylom 🇪🇹 ETH 4:04.27
Season at a glance
The outdoor season saw unprecedented depth in the women's 1500m, with 16 athletes achieving sub-four-minute performances. In total, those athletes dipped under the four-minute barrier 28 times.
Leading the way was Faith Kipyegon, who had another sensational season. The Kenyan kicked things off with a 3:52.59 1500m season opener at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene before returning to Hayward Field to regain the world title. She then blazed a 3:50.37 to win in Monaco and capped things off with another Diamond Trophy win.
The 28-year-old has now claimed gold or silver in every major championship 1500m since 2015 and her success in July saw her regain the title she had first claimed in 2017. No other woman has ever won four world medals in the event.
In this year's world final, Kipyegon dominated as she led the top three under 3:56, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay running 3:54.52 and Britain’s Laura Muir 3:55.28 as the rest of the field finished another six seconds back.
Kipyegon then decided to skip the Commonwealth Games, won by Muir in 4:02.75, to concentrate on the Monaco Diamond League. That decision paid off as she managed to run 3:50.37 for the second-fastest time in history, just 0.3 off the world record set by Genzebe Dibaba in 2015.
Ending things on a high, she then won her third Diamond League title in Zurich. The three fastest times of the season were all set by Kipyegon and she has now overtaken Sifan Hassan as the athlete with the most career sub-four-minute clockings. Kipyegon has achieved it 24 times, one more than Hassan, and the next two on the list are Muir (20) and Tsegay (19).
So impressive is Kipyegon’s world-leading time that the next best this year – achieved by multiple global medallist Tsegay – is almost four seconds slower. That 3:54.21 saw Tsegay finish second behind Kipyegon at the Prefontaine Classic and the Ethiopian also ran under 3:55 to secure her world silver. Five days later she would add the world 5000m title to her CV.
After getting Olympic silver behind Kipyegon in Tokyo, Muir won her first World Athletics Championships medal with the third-fastest time of her career. She added the European title to her 2022 haul but had to settle for second in Brussels when Ireland’s Ciara Mageean sprang a surprise to claim her first ever Diamond League victory. Running 3:56.63, she took two seconds off Sonia O’Sullivan’s national record that had been set in 1995.
Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji, who finished fourth in the world 800m final, was also among the top performers in the 1500m and she ran 3:56.91 to win in Silesia.
While Kipyegon was almost four seconds ahead of the rest during the outdoor season, Tsegay was even more dominant indoors, running a world-leading 3:54.77 in Torun – a mark seven seconds faster than any other athlete could manage. Like Kipyegon’s performance, Tsegay’s mark was also the second-fastest in history, behind only her own 3:53.09 world record set in Lievin last year.
Tsegay then won her first global gold, the world indoor title in Belgrade, in a 3:57.19 championship record as she led an Ethiopian sweep of the medals - the first by any nation in any event in world indoor history.
There was also success for Ethiopia at the World U20 Championships as Birke Haylom won gold in a championship record.
Men’s 1500m
Season top list
| 3:29.02 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | Zurich | 8 September |
| 3:29.23 | Jake Wightman 🇬🇧 GBR | Eugene | 19 July |
| 3:29.90 | Mohamed Katir 🇪🇸 ESP | Eugene | 19 July |
| 3:29.93 | Abel Kipsang 🇰🇪 KEN | Lausanne | 26 August |
| 3:30.12 | Oliver Hoare 🇦🇺 AUS | Birmingham | 6 August |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | 1489 |
| 2 | Abel Kipsang 🇰🇪 KEN | 1402 |
| 3 | Jake Wightman 🇬🇧 GBR | 1398 |
| 4 | Timothy Cheruiyot 🇰🇪 KEN | 1386 |
| 5 | Oliver Hoare 🇦🇺 AUS | 1382 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Jake Wightman 🇬🇧 GBR | 3:29.23 |
| 🥈 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | 3:29.47 |
| 🥉 | Mohamed Katir 🇪🇸 ESP | 3:29.90 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Jake Wightman 🇬🇧 GBR 3:29.23
World Indoor Championships: Samuel Tefera 🇪🇹 ETH 3:32.77
African Championships: Abel Kipsang 🇰🇪 KEN 3:36.57
European Championships: Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR 3:32.76
NACAC Championships: Eric Holt 🇺🇸 USA 3:37.62
Oceania Championships: Samuel Tanner 🇳🇿 NZL 3:42.56
Commonwealth Games: Oliver Hoare 🇦🇺 AUS 3:30.12
Wanda Diamond League: Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR 3:29.02
World U20 Championships: Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot 🇰🇪 KEN 3:35.83
Season at a glance
There were thrills and spills in the men’s 1500m in 2022. Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke the world indoor record but then lost out in a battle for the world indoor title in Belgrade. He also had to settle for silver at the World Championships in Oregon but rebounded to win European gold and the Diamond League title, clocking a world-leading 3:29.02 to do so.
Samuel Tefera, meanwhile, might have lost his world indoor record to Ingebrigtsen but then he retained his world title, and Jake Wightman won a surprise world title in Oregon but was then beaten into bronze in a thrilling Commonwealth Games final, won by Australia’s Oliver Hoare.
Ingebrigtsen got the year started on an incredible high in Lievin. With the world indoor record in his sights, the 22-year-old ended up running 3:30.60 to take 0.44 off the mark that had been set by Tefera in 2019. It was Tefera who he beat, the 23-year-old finishing three seconds back.
They would next go head-to-head at the World Indoor Championships, but the tables turned. There, Tefera clocked 3:32.77 – the fastest time in the history of the championships – to beat his Norwegian rival, who later said he did not feel 100% and tested positive for Covid on his return home.
Tefera’s world indoor title-winning time remained the second-best of the season behind Ingebrigtsen’s world record, while Britain’s Josh Kerr ran 3:32.86 in Boston and Kenya’s Abel Kipsang clocked 3:33.36 for bronze in Belgrade.
Then came the outdoor season. Kipsang, winner of the African title in June, ran 3:31.01 in Nairobi in May and that remained the world lead through to the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, where Wightman – in a race being called by in-stadium announcer Geoff Wightman, father and coach of the eventual winner – ran a PB of 3:29.23, the third-quickest ever in the history of the World Championships.
Ingebrigtsen was second in 3:29.47 and would go on to win the 5000m title five days later, while Spain’s Mohamed Katir got bronze in 3:29.90.
After the World Championships, Ingebrigtsen won the European Championships final in 3:32.76 and the Lausanne Diamond League in 3:29.05, before taking his first Diamond Trophy in the third-fastest time of his career.
There, Ingebrigtsen beat 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot and Hoare, who had judged the previous month’s Commonwealth Games final to perfection. With a late surge, Hoare overtook a tiring Wightman and a fast-finishing Cheruiyot, who stumbled while stretching for the line, to win in a Games record and PB of 3:30.12.
Stewart McSweyn was another Australian athlete to enjoy a strong 2022, running the second-fastest time of his career of 3:30.18 in Lausanne, to put him among the nine athletes who dipped under 3:31 during the season.
Women’s 5000m
Season top list
| 14:12.98 | Ejgayehu Taye 🇪🇹 ETH | Eugene | 27 May |
| 14:24.59 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | Eugene | 27 May |
| 14:25.84 | Dawit Seyaum 🇪🇹 ETH | Oslo | 16 June |
| 14:26.69 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | Oslo | 16 June |
| 14:31.07 | Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal 🇳🇴 NOR | Oslo | 16 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | 1415 |
| 2 | Dawit Seyaum 🇪🇹 ETH | 1398 |
| 3 | Beatrice Chebet 🇰🇪 KEN | 1396 |
| 4 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | 1355 |
| 5 | Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi 🇰🇪 KEN | 1352 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | 14:46.29 |
| 🥈 | Beatrice Chebet 🇰🇪 KEN | 14:46.75 |
| 🥉 | Dawit Seyaum 🇪🇹 ETH | 14:47.36 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH 14:46.29
World Indoor Championships (3000m): Lemlem Hailu 🇪🇹 ETH 8:41.82
African Championships: Beatrice Chebet 🇰🇪 KEN 15:00.82
European Championships: Konstanze Klosterhalfen 🇩🇪 GER 14:50.47
NACAC Championships: Natosha Rogers 🇺🇸 USA 15:11.68
Oceania Championships: Paige Campbell🇦🇺 AUS 16:07.56
Commonwealth Games: Beatrice Chebet 🇰🇪 KEN 14:38.21
World U20 Championships: Medina Eisa 🇪🇹 ETH 15:29.71
Season at a glance
After winning bronze medals at the Olympics in Tokyo, World Championships in Doha and World Indoor Championships in Portland, 2022 was the year in which Gudaf Tsegay won her first global gold medals and her world title outdoors was claimed in the 5000m.
Five days after securing world 1500m silver and four months after winning the world indoor 1500m title, the 25-year-old used that 1500m speed to hold off Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet in a thrilling sprint finish in Oregon, 14:46.29 to 14:46.75. Behind them, Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum got bronze in 14:47.36.
Seyaum, also previously a 1500m specialist, and Tsegay were among the four women who dipped under 14:30 during the outdoor season, respectively clocking 14:25.84 and 14:26.69 when finishing first and second at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo.
The fastest race of the year was at the Diamond League in Eugene, however, as their Ethiopian compatriot Ejgayehu Taye stormed to a meeting record of 14:12.98, which puts her fifth on the world all-time list.
That race had been billed as a world record attempt and Letesenbet Gidey looked on track to threaten her own mark of 14:06.62 set in Valencia in 2020 when she reached 3000m in 8:32.07. But she slowed over the next two kilometres and Taye took advantage, breezing past to eventually take two seconds off her PB and win by more than 11 seconds. Gidey’s 14:24.59 was the second-quickest performance of the season, while Eritrea’s Rahel Daniel ran a national record of 14:36.66 to finish third.
Like Daniel, Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal also broke a national record as she clocked 14:31.07 on home soil in Oslo.
After her world silver medal win, Chebet went on to win Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham, while she also won the African title in June.
Earlier in the year, Taye had claimed world indoor 3000m bronze in a race won by her compatriot Lemlem Hailu from USA’s Elle Purrier St Pierre. Seyaum clocked 8:23.24 for the distance in Lievin, moving her to third on the world indoor all-time list.
Men’s 5000m
Season top list
| 12:45.71 | Jacob Krop 🇰🇪 KEN | Brussels | 2 September |
| 12:46.33 | Nicholas Kipkorir 🇰🇪 KEN | Rome | 9 June |
| 12:46.96 | Grant Fisher 🇺🇸 USA | Brussels | 2 September |
| 12:50.05 | Berihu Aregawi 🇪🇹 ETH | Eugene | 28 May |
| 12:52.10 | Yomif Kejelcha 🇪🇹 ETH | Rome | 9 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Jacob Krop 🇰🇪 KEN | 1431 |
| 2 | Nicholas Kipkorir 🇰🇪 KEN | 1414 |
| 3 | Grant Fisher 🇺🇸 USA | 1383 |
| 4 | Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH | 1374 |
| 5 | Thierry Ndikumwenayo 🇧🇮 BDI | 1362 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | 13:09.24 |
| 🥈 | Jacob Krop 🇰🇪 KEN | 13:09.98 |
| 🥉 | Oscar Chelimo 🇺🇬 UGA | 13:10.20 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR 13:09.24
World Indoor Championships (3000m): Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH 7:41.38
African Championships: Hailemariyam Amare 🇪🇹 ETH 13:36.79
European Championships: Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR 13:21.13
NACAC Championships: William Kincaid 🇺🇸 USA 14:48.58
Oceania Championships: Sam McEntee 🇦🇺 AUS 13:46.39
Commonwealth Games: Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 UGA 13:08.08
World U20 Championships: Addisu Yihune 🇪🇹 ETH 14:03.05
Season at a glance
Like Gudaf Tsegay, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen was a double medallist in Oregon and he too claimed his first World Championships title in the 5000m. Remaining patient, as he has in his hunt for world gold, the 22-year-old returned to the track five days after securing 1500m silver to triumph in 13:09.24.
Starting off near the back of the pack, he worked his way through the field and was to the fore with 600m to go. It was a lead he would never relinquish. Kenya’s Jacob Krop gave chase and Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo finished fast, but Ingebrigtsen couldn’t be caught and he looked sublime as he cruised over the finish line to win by 0.74.
Ingebrigtsen then retained his European 5000m title as part of another continental crown double in Munich, while Jacob Kiplimo won at the Commonwealth Games, completing a 5000m and 10,000m double.
Elsewhere, victories at other big races throughout the season were shared. The seven Diamond League races in the lead up to the final were won by seven different athletes and Krop went quickest of all, winning a competitive clash in Brussels in 12:45.71.
On what proved to be a night for silver medallists, the World Championships runner-up rebounded after third place in the Commonwealth Games final behind winner Kiplimo and sixth place at the Diamond League in Monaco to take more than a second off his PB in Brussels and move to sixth on the world all-time list. USA’s Grant Fisher proved to be his closest challenger and although Krop moved away down the home straight, Fisher held on to run a North American record of 12:46.96 that put him 12th on the world all-time list.
During a season in which 14 athletes went sub-13 minutes, the top six in Brussels all dipped under the barrier. Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu set a South Sudanese record of 12:52.15, while a Burundian record was set by Thierry Ndikumwenayo in Rome, where he ran 12:59.39. That Rome race also saw the all-time list rewritten, as Kenya’s Nicholas Kimeli won in 12:46.33, a time that now sees him sit at eighth all-time.
Selemon Barega’s world indoor 3000m title win helped him to finish the year at fourth on the World Athletics rankings, while Berihu Aregawi clocked the quickest indoor 3000m of the season, his 7:26.20 in Karlsruhe moving him to fifth on the world all-time list.
Women’s 10,000m
Season top list
| 30:09.94 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | Eugene | 16 July |
| 30:10.02 | Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN | Eugene | 16 July |
| 30:10.07 | Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi 🇰🇪 KEN | Eugene | 16 July |
| 30:10.56 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | Eugene | 16 July |
| 30:12.15 | Rahel Daniel 🇪🇷 ERI | Eugene | 16 July |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | 1392 |
| 2 | Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN | 1356 |
| 3 | Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi 🇰🇪 KEN | 1355 |
| 4 | Ejgayehu Taye 🇪🇹 ETH | 1331 |
| 5 | Bosena Mulatie 🇪🇹 ETH | 1310 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | 30:09.94 |
| 🥈 | Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN | 30:10.02 |
| 🥉 | Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi 🇰🇪 KEN | 30:10.07 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH 30:09.94
African Championships: Caroline Nyaga 🇰🇪 KEN 32:12.61
European Championships: Yasemin Can 🇹🇷 TUR 30:32.57
NACAC Championships: Stephanie Bruce 🇺🇸 USA 33:12.42
Oceania Championships: Nathania Tan 🇲🇵 NMI 41:15.60
Commonwealth Games: Eilish McColgan 🇬🇧 GBR 30:48.60
Season at a glance
The top six performances of the year were all achieved in the world final, where a tactical race wound up to a four-woman sprint to the finish and Letesenbet Gidey gritted her teeth to get the gold.
One year on from her 29:01.03 world record-breaking run in Hengelo, Ethiopia’s Gidey got her first global title in 30:09.94 as she held off Kenya’s Hellen Obiri (30:09.94) and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi (30:10.07). After her two world 5000m titles, it was a first 10,000m medal for Obiri, whose performance was a PB.
The defending champion and Olympic gold medallist Sifan Hassan finished fourth in 30:10.56, while Eritrea’s Rahel Daniel was fifth (30:12.15), Ejgayehu Taye sixth (30:12.45) and Caroline Kipkirui of Kazakhstan seventh in a national record of 30:17.64.
A total of 21 athletes went under 31 minutes throughout the season, compared to 22 in 2021 and 16 in 2019.
Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter was also among the national record-breakers thanks to her 30:46.37 performance for bronze at the European Championships, in a race won by Turkey’s Yasemin Can in 30:32.57.
Of the 10 fastest times of the season, Elise Cranny’s PB of 30:14.66 was the only one not recorded in Oregon, her performance having been achieved in San Juan Capistrano in March.
Gidey went below 31 minutes twice, running 30:44.27 to finish second in Hengelo in a race won by Britain’s Eilish McColgan in 30:19.02. McColgan also won the Commonwealth title and ran sub-31 minutes a total of four times, finishing second at the European Championships and 10th in the world final. No other woman has ever recorded more than two sub-31-minute 10,000m runs in one calendar year.
Men’s 10,000m
Season top list
| 26:33.84 | Grant Fisher 🇺🇸 USA | San Juan Capistrano | 6 March |
| 26:34.14 | Mohammed Ahmed 🇨🇦 CAN | San Juan Capistrano | 6 March |
| 26:44.73 | Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 5 June |
| 26:45.91 | Tadese Worku 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 5 June |
| 26:46.13 | Berihu Aregawi 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 5 June |
World Athletics rankings
| 1 | Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA | 1348 |
| 2 | Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 UGA | 1344 |
| 3 | Grant Fisher 🇺🇸 USA | 1327 |
| 4 | Stanley Waithaka Mburu 🇰🇪 KEN | 1313 |
| 5 | Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH | 1308 |
World medallists
| 🥇 | Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA | 27:27.43 |
| 🥈 | Stanley Waithaka Mburu 🇰🇪 KEN | 27:27.90 |
| 🥉 | Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 UGA | 27:27.97 |
| Full results | ||
Major winners
World Championships: Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA 27:27.43
African Championships: Mogos Tuemay 🇪🇹 ETH 29:19.01
European Championships: Yemaneberhan Crippa 🇮🇹 ITA 27:46.13
NACAC Championships: Sean McGorty 🇺🇸 USA 29:23.77
Oceania Championships: Tim Vincent 🇦🇺 AUS 29:49.66
Commonwealth Games: Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 UGA 27:09.19
Season at a glance
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei became the fourth man to win back to back world 10,000m titles, successfully defending the crown he claimed in Doha with a 27:27.43 run in Oregon.
A number of athletes were in contention at the bell but Cheptegei was the dominant force. The 26-year-old, who broke world records in both the 5000m and 10,000m in 2020, hit the front with one lap to go and couldn’t be beaten, eventually spreading his arms wide in celebration as he retained his title in 27:27.43.
Kenya’s Stanley Waithaka Mburu claimed silver in 27:27.90, while Jacob Kiplimo again joined his Ugandan compatriot on a global podium, running 27:27.97 to add world bronze to his Olympic medal of the same colour.
Cheptegei went on to finish ninth in the world 5000m final before closing his season, while Kiplimo decided to double at the Commonwealth Games and won the 10,000m title before also getting gold in the 5000m.
The quickest times of the year – and two of the fastest times in history – were run in San Juan Capistrano in March, USA’s Grant Fisher recording another North American record, this time of 26:33.84, and Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed clocking 26:34.14 to move to seventh and ninth, respectively, on the world all-time list.
The next four fastest times were all run in Hengelo, Selemon Barega clocking 26:44.73 ahead of Tadese Worku (26:45.91), Berihu Aregawi (26:46.13) and Yomif Kejelcha (26:49.39).
A total of eight athletes dipped under 27 minutes, while 138 went under 28 minutes.
World Athletics
