At the professional level, many races offer significant
prize money to athletes who achieve a high finishing position in the race. At the highest level, annual prize money can total over US$100,000 at races such as the
World's Best 10K, Peachtree Road Race, Apryle Showers Run - Florida's Fastest 10K, and
World 10K Bangalore. ,
Micah Kogo and
Chris Thompson in the elite men's race at the
London 10000 in 2010 The 10K road distance has never been featured on the event programmes of the
Athletics at the Summer Olympics or the
IAAF World Championships in Athletics. However, it briefly had its own individual championship for women in the form of the
IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships, contested over ten kilometres in 1983 and 1984. As a result, the highest level 10K road competitions occur at individual races run by race promoters, who attract elite international level runners through prize money and
appearance fees. These races are held in all parts of the world, but the highest calibre races are mainly concentrated in the United States, Canada, Europe and
East Asia. The world records for the 10K road distance are 26:24 minutes for men (
Rhonex Kipruto, 2020) and 29:43 minutes for women (
Joyciline Jepkosgei, 2017). Performances over ten kilometres on the roads were not recognised as
world records by the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) until 2003. Instead, the fastest times were referred to as "world bests". This changed in August 2003 when the IAAF Congress approved world record status for a number of specified road distances, including the 10 km. As with other forms of professional
long-distance running, East African athletes have been dominant in the 10K distance since the 1990s. As of January 2020, all ten of the fastest male 10K runners are East African (five of them
Kenyan), while nine of the top ten female runners are Kenyan. ==Area records==