The new world records by Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda in the men's 10,000-meter race and Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia in the women's 5,000-meter event were officially ratified by World Athletics, the global governing body for athletics, on Monday.

Both Cheptegei and Gidey achieved the glorious honor at the NN Valencia World Record Day at Turia Stadium on October 7. Cheptegei finished his race at 26:11.00 and Gidey at 14:06.62.

"I wanted to show the sports lovers of the world that the track is exciting," said Cheptegei.

Breaking the men's 10,000-meter race world record was not the only achievement of the 24-year-old in 2020. Two months before Valencia, Cheptegei finished the men's 5,000-meter race at 12:35:36 in the Monaco meeting of the Diamond League, refreshing the world record created by Kenya's Kenenisa Bekele. He is currently the 10th man to hold the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter world records.

Cheptegei already won the men's 10,000-meter title at the World Athletics Championships in Doha last year. If the Tokyo Olympics weren't postponed, he would have had a very good chance to add another two Olympic gold medals to his honor list, collecting all top honors of the men's 10,000-meter competition at such a young age.

When Tirunesh Dibaba recorded the women's 5,000-meter world record (14:15:11) in Oslo in 2008, no one knew that achievement would remain unchallenged for 12 years. Finally, 22-year-old Gidey broke it in Valencia. In fact, she was a cross country standout before arriving at the athletic track and competed only once this season.

Nonetheless, Gidey's 14:26.57 run in Monaco was far from her best performance and she proved that in Valencia.

"I have been dreaming about this (setting a world record) for six years. I am very happy now," said the 22-year-old.