Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia was unable to break his own world record in the men’s 10,000 meters Sunday morning in the Prefontaine Classic, but he ran the fastest race ever on American soil, becoming the first runner to break 27 minutes. Bekele clocked 26 minutes, 25.97 seconds, off his record of 26:17.53 set two years ago. It was the fourth-fastest 10,000 ever.

American runner Abdi Abdirahman, finishing seventh, ran the second-fastest time by a U.S. runner, clocking 27.19.99, off the record pace of 27:13.98 by Meb Keflezighi.

Before an enthusiastic crowd of perhaps 5,000, there three hours before the start of the bulk of themeet, that applauded rhythmically, Bekele, the Olympic and World Championships gold medalist followed pacesetters Louie Luchini, Boaz Cheboiya and then Abreham Feleke. With 13 laps to go, he was within two seconds of world-record pace and came through the 5,000 meters in 13:09.9.  Feleke pulled off, and Bekele ran the last 4,800 meters by himself, and fell off the pace.