The 10,000 metres or 10K is a common long distance running event. As "10,000 metres" it is a track event, and appears in athletics events such as the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics; as "10K" it is a roadrace or cross country running event. The 10K road race is a popular distance among recreational runners.

The 10,000 metres is the longest standard track event. The imperial distance is equal to 6.214 miles (or, approximately 32,808.399 feet). Most of those running such races also compete in road races and cross country events. Official records are kept for outdoor 10,000 metre track events. The world track record for men is held by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia in 26:17.53, posted at Brussels, Belgium on August 26, 2005. The 26:44 10K road race mark by Leonard Komon of Kenya was set in Utrecht, The Netherlands on September 26, 2010.

For women, the world track 10,000 metres record is held by Wang Junxia of China in 29:31.78 on September 8, 1993.

The 10,000 metres demands exceptional levels of aerobic endurance and elite athletes typically train in excess of 100 miles a week.

Haile Gebrselassie (Amharic: ኃይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ^?, haylē gebre silassē; born 18 April, 1973) is an Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. Further to this, he won four world titles indoors and was the 2001 World Half Marathon Champion.

Gebrselassie had major competition wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He broke 61 Ethiopian National Records ranging from 800 meters to the marathon, set 27 world records, and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners in history.

In September 2008, at the age of 35, he won the Berlin Marathon with a world record time of 2:03:59, breaking his own world record by 27 seconds. The record stood for three years. Since he was over the age of 35, that mark still stands as the Masters Age group world record.

Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha (Amharic:ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born June 13, 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner, who holds the world record and Olympic record in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres events. He is the reigning Olympic champion in both events and also won the 2004 Olympic title over 10,000 m.

He is the most accomplished runner in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history, with six long (12 km) course and five short (4 km) course titles. He won the 10,000 m title at the World Championships in Athletics four times running from 2003 to 2009 (matching Haile Gebrselassie's win streak). Bekele was unbeaten over 10,000 m from his debut in 2003 until 2011, when he failed to finish at the World Championships final.

At the 2009 World Championships in Athletics he became the first man to win both 5000 m and 10,000 m title at the same championships. Over 5000 m he has also won an Olympic silver (2004), World Championship bronze (2003), two African Championship titles and one All-Africa Games gold medal. He also won the 3000 metres title at the World Indoor Championships in 2006.

Justyna Kowalczyk (pronounced [jusˈtɨna kɔˈvalt​͡ʂɨk] ( listen), born January 19, 1983) is a Polish cross country skier who has been competing since 2000. She is one of the most successful cross country skiers of all time, being the only skier in the history with victories in all the most important sport events, so called "The Big Crown": Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup and Tour de Ski.

Kowalczyk is an Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier who won the Tour de Ski three times in a row and one of two female skiers, who won the FIS Cross-Country World Cup three times in a row (the other one being Finn Marjo Matikainen). Kowalczyk holds the all-time record for the most wins in Tour de Ski with 10 competitions won.

Kowalczyk finished second in the individual sprint at the 2003 World Junior Championships. She finished 31st in the individual sprint event at the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Recently in Canmore, Canada, on Jan 22, 2008, Justyna Kowalczyk won the race for her second World Cup triumph. She followed in Canmore with two more bronze medals in the same World Cup event. Kowalczyk was 3rd in the 2007 World Cup.

Petter Northug Jr. (born 6 January 1986) is a Norwegian cross country skier and double Olympic champion. He has 9 World Championship and Winter Olympic gold medals with 13 medals overall, and 11 individual FIS Cross-Country World Cup wins with 23 podium places.

During his first years, Northug was generally considered a star of the future. Whilst he was still a junior Verdens Gang newspaper reported in November 2005 that "the ski manufacturers are fighting to get Northug".Fischer won his signature, and his contract included a base salary (the first time ever for a junior), which would be multiplied by five if he made the Norwegian elite team for 2006/07, which he did. The contract also offered bonuses if he won medals in the junior World Championships.

Northug has six gold medals from junior World Championships. His first two gold medals came in 2004/05 in the pursuit and the 10 km freestyle in Rovaniemi, then in 2005/06 in Kranj he won gold in the 10 km classic, the pursuit, the sprint, and the relay. He also has two silver medals (one in the sprint, and one in the relay, both in 2004/05). His victories made him the first athlete ever to win five individual gold medals at the FIS Junior Nordic World Ski Championships. During 2005/06 he also took part in the Norwegian National Championships, and won the double pursuit race, beating Frode Estil by 1.9 seconds, and became the first junior to ever win a Norwegian National Championship.