British rider Beth Potter ran the second fastest road ever ridden by a female athlete for 3 miles in a race in the village of Barrowford, Lancashire.
The 29-year-old Scottish runner Potter, who competed in the 2016 Olympics, set a time of 14 minutes and 41 seconds on Saturday.
The time can finally be classified as a world record.
“It was really good to race in the early part of the season, but it exceeded my expectations,” said Potter.
“It all started to sink in when I was about a mile ahead of me and I saw that the clock was 11 and I was trying to do the math in my head. I was convinced the clock was wrong, I couldn’t believe it. “She told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Only Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei has ever run faster – she recorded 14:32 in a 10 km race in Prague in 2017.
However, 5km road racing has only been recognized as an official world record event since January 2018, meaning Potter may have set a world record time.
This mark is currently held by the world obstacle course champion Beatrice Chepkoech. who ran 14:43 at the Monaco Run in February.
Whether Potter’s time on the 5km podium is finally confirmed by World Athletics as an official world record depends on a number of rules, such as the presence of anti-doping officers, the size of the laps and the accuracy of the distance measurement.
After switching to triathlon four years ago, Potter was hoping to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but missed the selection.
“It’s frustrating because I feel like I’m in shape at the moment,” she said.
Potter finished 34th for Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 at 10,000m before moving to triathlon and winning gold at the 2019 European Championships.
The Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich beat the half marathon world mark in Istanbul on Sunday.
The 26-year-old took 29 seconds off the world record with a time of 1:04:02.
