Chris Solinsky is first non-African to break 27 minutes in 10,000 meters (that’s a 4:20 pace-per-mile)

A pack of horses scorched the track Saturday night and I’m not referring to the slop-fest that took place at Churchhill Downs.

Four records were broken in the men’s 10,000 meter race at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on Stanford University’s campus. Expectations had been immensely high for records to fall heading into the race and although these exact expectations didn’t come to fruition, the outcome did not disappoint.

25-year old Chris Solinsky broke from the lead pack with 800 meters to go, closing in under 2 minutes [UPDATE: 1:56 to be exact]  to win in 26:59.6, an American record. Remarkably, it was Solinsky’s first time ever racing the distance on the track.

The race was primed with two pacers and plenty of hype for Galen Rupp, a young upstart from the University of Oregon, to take down the record and he was the clear favorite to do so. Rupp led for much of the race’s later stages, with Sam Chelanga, Daniel Salel also chasing, but they all faded to Solinsky’s blazing kick. Salel finished second, followed by Chelanga and Rupp.

In all, four records were broken: Chelanga, a senior at Liberty University, broke the NCAA record (27:08.39); Simon Bairu, who finished 5^th, broke the Canadian record (27:23.63). Rupp’s time of 27:10.74 also broke the American record.

The previous record was 27:13.98 held by Meb Keflezighi and set at the same meet almost nine years ago to the day in 2001.

Solinsky’s time is the fastest in the world so far this year and he is the first non-African to ever break 27 minutes in the distance.

For those keeping score at home, the fall of the 10K means that an American record has been set in each Olympic distance event (not including the mile) from the 1500 meters up in the last five years.