The 25-year-old followed her national 5km record with another record-breaking performance in Romania, this time with a new SA 10km record.
Romania (05 October 2026) – South African distance runner Tayla Kavanagh is finding another gear at exactly the right time.
The 25-year-old produced a huge performance at the Brasov Running Festival in Romania on Sunday, breaking the South African women’s 10km road record with a time of 30:50.
Kavanagh finished fifth overall in a world-class field, but her biggest achievement came against the clock, as she took 22 seconds off the previous national record of 31:12, set by Glenrose Xaba in Durban in July 2024.
She also took a massive 36 seconds off her own personal best of 31:26.
The result was particularly meaningful given how her road-running journey began.
“I started my road running career of running 10 kilometers at 16 years old, and having now broken the SA 10K record on the road, I’m incredibly proud, and it feels really special.”
The record did not come completely out of the blue, either.
Kavanagh knew she had been getting close to the mark and went into the race with one simple objective: to see just how fast she could run.
“I knew I wasn’t that far off the record previously, so I came into the race with the mindset of running as fast as I could today. So breaking the record felt extra special.”
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Just last month, she set a South African 5km road record at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, where she finished fourth in 14:51.
Now she has added the national 10km record to her name and this time, she did it while lining up alongside some of the best distance runners in the world.
“It was an absolute privilege to get the opportunity to line up and race against a world-class field, and I’m super proud to have performed super well in a great field,” Kavanagh said.
For someone who first stepped into road running as a teenager, the progression is pretty remarkable.
Two national records in the space of a few weeks suggests Kavanagh is starting to make herself very comfortable in it.
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