The marquee year-ending battle between Ethiopian long-distance legend Tirunesh Dibaba and the bustling Kenyan pair of Hellen Obiri and Brigid Kosgei produced an upset result on Monday. 

The IAAF Silver Label road race at the San Silvestre Vallecana in Madrid saw both Obiri and Kosgei finishing within 30 minutes, as the latter won in 29:54 while Obiri, who had never previously contested a 10km race either on the roads or track, notched up the second spot in 29:59. Multiple world and Olympic gold medalist Dibaba's dream of ending the bygone year on a high note was shattered when she only managed to finish a distant third in 30:40.

The 33-year-old has focused on the marathon over the last two years and also set a new Ethiopian national record of 2:17:56 for the distance in London last year in order to become the third fastest marathoner of all-time.

While Dibaba's 10,000m career best of 29:42:56 was set during her bronze-winning run at the Rio Olympics in 2016, the world 5000m record holder's 10k road best stands at 30:30. The Ethiopian, who was chasing the 30:53 course record, set by her compatriot Gelete Burka in 2012, had won the 2011 edition clocking 31:30.

Meanwhile, in the men's section of the long-distance running event, Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo registered the fastest 10km performance in history in 26:41. However, his record time couldn't be counted as a world record because of the downhill nature of the course (5.5m per kilometer). But it's still a significant performance as it took 13 seconds off the previous race record set by Eliud Kipchoge in 2006.

Interestingly, the annual running event is staged on a downhill 10km point-to-point course and goes alongside Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium before finishing on the pitch of another football team, Rayo Vallecano.