PENDING WORLD 10-K RECORD FOR KOGO AT BRUNSSUM
By David Monti
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Olympic 10,000m bronze medalist Micah Kogo has set a pending world record for 10 km on the road today, according to his manager, Ricky Simms of Pace Sports Management.

Competing at the well-regarded Parelloop 10-K in Brunssum, Netherlands, Kogo clocked 27:01 to break both the IAAF-ratified world record of 27:02 set by Haile Gebrselassie in Doha in December, 2002, and the ARRS-ratified record of 27:18 set by Sammy Kipketer on the same Brunssum course in 2001.  The indpendent ARRS, the Association of Road Running Statisticians, had not accepted the Gebrselassie mark because he reportedly ran too close behind a large vehicle which provided a draft.

Simms, who is also Usain Bolt's manager, called the 22 year-old Kogo's performance an "awesome display of front running" as he finished some 46 seconds ahead of second place Abraham Chebii, one of Kogo's training partners.  Kogo had run 27:07 at Brunssum in 2007, the course record and his previous personal best.

At the Beijing Olympics last summer, Kogo just edged teammate Moses Masai to win the bronze medal; both were credited with the same time of 27:04.11.