Desiree Linden has become the first woman to run 50km in under three hours, breaking the world best with 2:59:54 at a specially-organised event in Oregon, USA

The previous ratified US record had been Janis Klecker's 3:13:51 set in 1983.

On a loop course in Oregon, Linden – who has a marathon PB of 2:22:38 set in Boston in 2011 – averaged at a pace of 5:47 per mile for the 31 miles (3:35 per kilometre), clocking around 1:15:47 at the half-marathon mark.

The event – named the Brooks Running 50km & Marathon – had been organised by Linden’s sponsor and her agent, Josh Cox, when her original plan of racing the Two Oceans ultramarathon in South Africa was cancelled due to the pandemic.