| Events at the 1993 World Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Track events | ||
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | women |
| 3000 m | women | |
| 5000 m | men | |
| 10,000 m | men | women |
| 100 m hurdles | women | |
| 110 m hurdles | men | |
| 400 m hurdles | men | women |
| 3000 m steeplechase | men | |
| 4 × 100 m relay | men | women |
| 4 × 400 m relay | men | women |
| Road events | ||
| Marathon | men | women |
| 10 km walk | women | |
| 20 km walk | men | |
| 50 km walk | men | |
| Field events | ||
| High jump | men | women |
| Pole vault | men | |
| Long jump | men | women |
| Triple jump | men | women |
| Shot put | men | women |
| Discus throw | men | women |
| Hammer throw | men | |
| Javelin throw | men | women |
| Combined events | ||
| Heptathlon | women | |
| Decathlon | men | |
The women's 10,000 metres event featured at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. There were a total number of 42 participating athletes, with two qualifying heats and the final being held on 21 August 1993.
The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-meter run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics and is common at championship level events. The race consists of 25 laps around an Olympic-sized track. It is less commonly held at track and field meetings, due to its duration. The 10,000 metre track race is usually distinguished from its road running counterpart, the 10K run, by its reference to the distance in metres rather than kilometres.
The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Gottlieb Daimler Stadium, Stuttgart, Germany between August 13 and August 22 with the participation of 187 nations. Having originally being held every four years in 1983, 1987 and 1991 these championships began a two-year cycle between events.
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The race was conducted in almost 30ºC temperatures, but the Chinese team took the race out at a pace only seen once before, during Ingrid Kristiansen's world record race 5 years earlier. Zhong Huandi took the pace for her 20 year old country mate Wang Junxia, while the others struggled to keep up. 15 year old Sally Barsosio stayed close to the pace, but her inexperience and erratic movements disrupted the flow for several runners near her. At one point during the race she was shown a yellow card by an umpire to essentially tell her to get out of the way. After getting spiked too many times from Barsosio's back kick, Elana Meyer walked off the track. The fast pace eventually slowed mid-race, then in frustration, Wang took off, separating from the chase pack of Zhong, Barsosio and Tegla Loroupe. Wang began dropping her lap times progressively 72, 71, 70, 69, 68. She capped it off with a 61 final lap for a championship record 30:49.30. Half a lap back, Barsosio had edged ahead of with Loroupe unable to maintain the pace and fading, the Zhong launched into a sprint the loping Barsosio could not match, pulling away to a three second gap for silver. After the race, Barsosio was disqualified, only to be reinstated on appeal. A little over two weeks later, Wang demolished the world record, running 29:31.78, part of a record smashing National Games of China when three major women's distance records were set. Wang's 10,000 record lasted until the 2016 Olympics when it was smashed by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana. Her 3000 metres record from 1993 has never been beaten. In 2016, a letter written by Wang in 1995 was published where she is said to have admitted to herself and her Liaoning teammates doping. Zhong trained with a different group in Yunnan. Four years later Barsosio won this race as a 19 year old.
Ingrid Kristiansen is a Norwegian former athlete. She was one of the best female long distance runners during the 1980s. She is a former world record holder in the 5000 metres, 10,000 metres, the half-marathon and the marathon and was a World Champion on the track, roads and cross-country. Kristiansen was the first athlete to win World titles on all three surfaces. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, she finished fourth in the first women's Olympic marathon. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, she dropped out of the 10,000 metres final while leading. Early in her career, she was also an elite cross country skier, winning several Norwegian titles and a European junior championship.
Zhong Huandi is a retired Chinese long-distance runner who concentrated on the 3000 and 10,000 metres, and later the marathon. She became a four-time Asian champion and two-time World Championships silver medalist. On 8 September 1993, she became the second fastest 10,000 meter runner of all time, only surpassed by Wang Junxia, the winner of that same race by more than half a lap in what remained the world record until the 2016 Olympics. Both runners surpassed the standing world record by Ingrid Kristiansen.
Wang Junxia is a Chinese former long-distance runner who is the current world record holder at 3,000 Meters. She also held the world record for the 10,000 Meters for 23 years, between 1993 and 2016. Her best years lay between 1991 and 1996. Wang was coached by Ma Junren until 1995 and by Mao Dezhen from 1995 to her retirement after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
