France international Alice Finot was caught in a massive crash during the dangerous and chaotic start of the Valencia 10km on Sunday, where Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw came close to her own world record.

"Thank God it's okay!"

But I saw a lot of burnt girls like after falling off a bike, they were crushed to the ground.

Luckily, I was not in contact with the concrete, I was intertwined, ”Frenchwoman Alice Finot, world finalist in the 3,000 m steeplechase last summer, told AFP.

In Valencia, Spain, this reputedly very fast 10 km brought together an impressive line-up of international runners in addition to amateur runners of all levels on Sunday, for more than 12,000 participants in total, normally divided into “airlocks” according to their speed.

“The organization got it wrong.

They released the amateur airlock too early, people rushed to the line.

Security got in front of them to make room for the elites in front, but initially it blew up.

There was a wave, it was falling, it was falling, it was falling.

The starting line was not wide enough,” lamented Finot, who was able to get up and finish the race in 33 minutes 13 seconds.

Yalemzerf Yehualaw close to his own record

“People come to get a time, there is no more respect.

Everyone thinks about their little time after doing their little training…”, continues, angrily, the French athlete.

The race was finally able to continue and Yalemzerf Yehualaw fell just seconds short of his own world record by winning the race in 29 minutes 19 seconds (corrected after being announced in 29:18 by the organization).

The 23-year-old Ethiopian set the world record for the distance in 29 minutes 14 in February 2022 in Castellon (Spain).

On a fast course, she passed in 14 minutes 47 at halfway helped by pacemakers before accelerating again to largely win the race with a pace close to 2 minutes 55 per kilometer on average.

She had the second-best performance ever over the distance.

Kenyan Weldon Kipkirui Langat won the men's race in 26:54 minutes. Frenchman Jimmy Gressier improved his personal best by one second in 27:40 minutes.

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