Lornah Kiplagat in action at the 2006 IAAF Road Running Championships in Debrecen (© Getty Images)
The IAAF has decided to award a World record bonus of $50,000 to Lornah Kiplagat, who broke the women’s 20km mark yesterday at the 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.
IAAF President Lamine Diack made the announcement during his speech at the competition’s Final banquet last night.
“At the last World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki we had a World Record Programme sponsored by two of our partners TDK and Toyota, but there is no agreement in place for the World Road Running Championships,” said Diack.
“Nonetheless, after seeing the fantastic competition yesterday, and the great World record of Lornah Kiplagat, we believe it is right that athletes at this event should also be rewarded for exceptional performances, even if we do not have a sponsor for that. For this reason, I am delighted to announce that Lornah will be paid a World record bonus of $50,000 directly by the IAAF, and that we will continue to pay a bonus to all those who can break World records at future editions of our World Road Running Championships. ”
Kiplagat lowered the existing World record held by Britain’s Paula Radcliffe by five seconds to 1:03: 21 yesterday. The Dutchwoman’s performance came after a tough duel with Romania's Constantina Tomescu-Dita, who was just two seconds behind at the finish line and also inside Radcliffe's mark which dates back to 2001.
Both Kiplagat and Tomescu-Dita were also credited with a new European Record mark of 47:10 for 15km.
IAAF
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