2015 LRC Year-End Rankings, Women’s 10,000: Vivian Cheruiyot Leads The Way As Three US Women Are In Top 6

by LetsRun.com
December 29, 2015

Last year, we didn’t do a 10,000 ranking as hardly any were run. This year, we’ll do one but do so quickly as few quality 10,000s are run anymore. The Worlds/Olympic 10,000 is basically the race for the event save for people trying to pick up a qualifier at another 10,000.

As compared to the men, there wasn’t nearly as much overlap between the top finishers at Worlds and the fastest 10,000 runners on the year so it was a little harder to come up with the list.

15 Fastest Women On The Year
1 30:49.68 Gelete Burka ETH Hengelo
2 30:50.83 Alemitu Haroye ETH Hengelo
3 30:53.69 Belaynesh Oljira ETH Hengelo
4 30:55.56 Mamitu Daska ETH Hengelo
5 30:58.03 Ayalew Wude ETH Hengelo
6 31:06.53 Netsanet Gudeta ETH Hengelo
7 31:08.82 Genet Ayalew ETH Hengelo
8 31:09.02 Shalane Flanagan USA Stanford
9 31:12.93 Sara Moreira POR Huelva
10 31:13.29 Vivian Cheruiyot KEN Bruxelles
11 31:23.60 Yeshaneh Ababel ETH Hengelo
12 31:24.18 Alice Nawowuna KEN Brazzaville
13 31:31.97 Susan Kuijken NED Stanford 
14 31:33.27 Buze Diriba ETH Stanford
15 31:34.17 Ana Dulce Félix POR Huelva
Top 15 At Worlds
1 Vivian Cheruiyot KEN 31:41.31
2 Gelete Burka ETH 31:41.77
3 Emily Infeld USA 31:43.49
4 Molly Huddle USA 31:43.58
5 Sally Kipyego KEN 31:44.42
6 Shalane Flanagan USA 31:46.23
7 Alemitu Haroye ETH 31:49.73
8 Betsy Saina KEN 31:51.35
9 Belaynesh Oljira ETH 31:53.01
10 Susan Kuijken NED 31:54.32
11 Jip Vastenburg NED 32:03.03
12 Sara Moreira POR 32:06.14
13 Kasumi Nishihara JPN 32:12.95
14 Brenda Flores MEX 32:15.26
15 Kate Avery GBR 32:16.19

Those in bold appear in both lists.

The 10,000 in 2016 could look a lot different than what shows up below as it’s possible Tirunesh Dibaba returns for a shot at a third straight Olympic 10,000 title. Also might our world #1 at 5,000Almaz Ayana, go for the double?

Molly Huddle Shows Her Grief (photo by Cheryl Treworgy, Prettysporty.com) All of these women earned a top 10 ranking (photo by Cheryl Treworgy, Prettysporty.com) *More Women’s 10,000 Photos

1.Vivian Cheruiyot – KEN – Yes we know Burka ran way faster. In the year 2015, when you win Worlds in the 10,000, you are the world #1 unless someone else was injured. Cheruiyot is a 4-time global track gold medallist. Burka ran faster, but we don’t care.

2. Gelete Burka – ETH – The 29-year-old former world indoor 1500 champ found her foray into the longer distances to be a good one. She had the fastest time on the year and earned the silver in Beijing. She also was third at the All-Africa Games after Worlds.

3. Molly Huddle – USA – Yes, she didn’t get the bronze at Worlds but she convincingly beat Infeld at USAs and also won the US road 10k title in October.

Emily Infeld Your Lone US Distance Medallist from Beijing Emily Infeld, Your Lone US Distance Medallist from Beijing *More Women’s 10,000 Photos

4. Emily Infeld – USA – Bronze medallist. Enough said. Please don’t tell us you predicted it. Imagine at the beginning of the year what you would have thought if we’d said to you, “The US will win only one mid-d or distance medal at Worlds this year and it won’t be Symmonds, Centro, Leo, Jager, Rupp, Simpson, Rowbury, Coburn or Huddle. It will, of course, be Emily Infeld.” You’d have thought we were crazy.

5. Alemitu Haroye – ETH   She ran the 2nd fastest time on the year in Hengelo at the Ethiopian champs (30:50.83) and was 7th at Worlds.

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6. Shalane Flanagan – USA – On the track, she was 6th at Worlds and had the 8th fastest time on the year. Her 31:03 road 10k was faster than all but five track performers.

7. Sally Kipyego – KEN – Kipyego, who was a DNF at the Kenyan Trials, was a bit lucky to make the Kenyan Worlds team (only five women with the standard raced the Kenyan Trials and only two finished the race) but she proved she belonged by finishing 5th.

8. Belaynesh Oljira – ETH – The 25-year-old had the third fastest track time on the year was 9th at Worlds. She has to be in our top 10 as a result.

9. Alice Nawowuna – KEN – The 21-year-old is someone to pay attention to in 2016. She ran the 5000 at the Kenyan Trials (5th) but did great once she moved up to the 10,000 as she won the All-Africa Games gold medal on September 16 in 31:24, defeating Burka in the process, before running 31:02 on the roads in Berlin on October 11.

10. Gladys Chesire – It’s a shame the 22-year-old Chesire didn’t get a chance to run a 10,000 on the track not at altitude as she could have been a medal contender at Worlds. She ran 32:10.61 for 3rd at the Kenyan champs in July before finishing 4th at the Kenyan Trials in 33:00. She then got 2nd at the All-Africa Games in 31:36.87 (losing to Nawawuna) before running the fastest 10k of the year on the roads in Berlin in 30:41 in October (beating Nawawuna).

US Top 5

1, 2, 3. – See Above.

Sisson now runs for New Balance Sisson now runs for New Balance

4. Emily Sisson – The NCAA indoor and outdoor 5000 champ for Providence is an athlete whom her coach Ray Treacy told us in April is made for the marathon. In 2020, we fully expect her to be on the US marathon team but she’s got a shot at the 10,000 team in 2016 as her bump up to the 10,000 on the track went well this year. She was 5th at Payton Jordan in 31:38.03 – the #2 time in the US on the year – and 5th at USAs in 32:28.73. She also was 2nd to Huddle at the US road 10k champs in October.

Desi Linden in 2015. Photo courtesy of Brooks. Desi Linden in 2015. Photo courtesy of Brooks.

5. Desi Linden – Linden was 6th at USAs, nearly 50 seconds behind Amy Cragg. However, Linden cracked the top five in on our rankings because she represented the US at the Pan Am Games after USAs, earning silver in Toronto. Why so many people who weren’t top three at USAs skipped Pan Ams is beyond us. Linden has a medal she can keep forever.

Honorable Mention 

Amy Cragg – She was 4th at USAs and absolutely crushed Emily Sisson (by 24+ seconds) and Desi Linden (by 49+ seconds) in the process. So why isn’t she in our top five? Because that was her only 10,000 of the year. Had she run Pan Ams, we certainly would have put her in our top five.


LRC All 2015 Year-End Rankings *LRC All 2014 Year-End Rankings

*LRC US 10,000 Recap: In A Battle of American Record Holders, Molly Huddle Sprints Away From Shalane Flanagan To Win US 10,000 Title; Emily Infeld Takes 3rd
*LRC 2015 WC 10,000 Recap Agony & Ecstasy in the Women’s 10,000: Molly Huddle Gives the Bronze Away to Emily Infeld as Vivian Cheruiyot Wins Gold Once Again
*The Molly Huddle Show Rolls On With 31:21 Win At USATF Road 10K Champs In Boston

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