Rodrigue Kwizera (left) recorded a time of 27:31 while Florence Niyonkuru clocked 30:45 at the TCS World 10K Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain

Rodrigue Kwizera blitzed through the field to set a new men’s event record at the TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2026 on Sunday.

Kwizera stepped on the pedal in the final stretch to finish with a time of 27:31, well under the previous mark of 27:38 set by Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli in 2022.

Kwizera, who missed the top spot to Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe in a photo finish here three years ago, won USD 34,000 (including the event record bonus of USD 8,000).

The Burundi runner accelerated at the 8km mark - after passing the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium - to pull away from his rivals. Kwizera kept a high pace in the long straight finish on Cubbon Road to eclipse Kimeli’s record.

“The challenge was the heat. I have been training in Spain, where it is much cooler this time of the year. Today, I told myself that I will push at the 5K mark, and again in the final kilometre. I wanted to go for the event record; I am glad I did it,” Kwizera said.

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Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru overcame a stiff challenge from favourite Brenda Jepchirchir to claim the international women’s title.

At the 7km stage, it was Florence, Brenda, Ethiopian Melal Biratu and Kenya’s Judy Chepaskwony who formed the leader pack.

Florence took over in the last right turn at the Cubbon Park metro station. Now on her own, Florence eased off and missed the event record (30:35, Irene Cheptai, 2022) by ten seconds. The Rwanda athlete took home USD 26,000.

Harmanjot Singh and Sanjivani Jadhav recorded the best timings among Indian men and women, respectively. Harmanjot clocked 29:13, falling short of the Indian record by just one second.

“I had the event record in mind. I tried to stay with the international elite pack as far as I could, which was till 5K. After that, I decided to rely on my own judgement,” Harmanjot said.

Sanjivani, the 2017 Asian Championships 5,000m bronze medallist, took top Indian honours here for a third time in a row.

Harmanjot and Sanjivani won Rs. 3,00,000 and Rs. 2,75,000 respectively.

Published on Apr 26, 2026