Bekele's 5000m World Record by the numbers

Lucky thing the pacers got out of his way or he'd only have run 12:43.

Nice gradual increase in the pace based in his 1000 meter splits. Last 3000 in ~7:31.88. NUTS!

Last 2 in 5 flat. Christ on a cracker!

2k

Bad Wigins wrote:

Lucky thing the pacers got out of his way or he'd only have run 12:43.

12:43.7

HField wrote:

Last 3000 in ~7:31.88. NUTS!

By himself.

This begs the question:

Are these ideal splits - to increase your pace throughout?

Convention says that even is better.

Do we have Geb's and Komens' 12:39 splits for comparison?

I think stronger runners are more likely to PR this way while those that are more speed based need to get out quicker and maintain.

Thanks for this post.

12:37 seems unreal to me having grown up as a runner watching the world's best run at around 13:24.

His fastest laps: 60.59, 59.50, 60.49, 57.78 = 3:58.36 for 1600m!

His last lap was only 2.8 seconds faster than his 12.5 lap average, so that's a good indication that there wasn't much room for improvement on his overall average pace.

Unbelievable performance and I love the casual sub 60 lap from 3000-3400. Bekele the GOAT, hope to see some similar performances in the marathon from him soon

Thanks for this post, Malmo. I always tell people that Bekele's 5K record is the greatest track performance ever. I love to watch the video. He runs a long time by himself, and his face shows no effort until the final straight. Number two on my list would be Komen's two mile.

Shawn H wrote:

Thanks for this post, Malmo. I always tell people that Bekele's 5K record is the greatest track performance ever. I love to watch the video. He runs a long time by himself, and his face shows no effort until the final straight. Number two on my list would be Komen's two mile.

Komen's 2 mile over Komen's 3000m?!

george oscar bluth wrote:

Shawn H wrote:

Thanks for this post, Malmo. I always tell people that Bekele's 5K record is the greatest track performance ever. I love to watch the video. He runs a long time by himself, and his face shows no effort until the final straight. Number two on my list would be Komen's two mile.

Komen's 2 mile over Komen's 3000m?!

Yeah, I know what you mean. The 3000 was incredible, too, and it may have been slightly better. But there's just something so historically significant about TWO back-to-back sub-4-minute miles.

MarathonMind wrote:

His last lap was only 2.8 seconds faster than his 12.5 lap average, so that's a good indication that there wasn't much room for improvement on his overall average pace.

Seems so.

But while averaging 60.5 he did have a couple of 62's in there early on.

Was that lost time or did that enable him to close the way he did?

Here are the splits I was looking for:

Daniel Komen (1997)- 12:39.74 (2:32.7, 2:32.7, 2:31.9, 2:31.21, 2:31.21)

Haile Gebrselassie (1998)- 12:39.36 (2:34.8, 2:31.6, 2:32.9, 2:32.8, 2:27.3)

Komen was incredibly even but still negative split.

Geb was uneven at first but a big negative split from first 1K to the last 1K.

Good evidence that negative splitting is effective and maybe optimal.

Dit is geklopt!!

MarathonMind wrote:His last lap was only 2.8 seconds faster than his 12.5 lap average, so that's a good indication that there wasn't much room for improvement on his overall average pace.

no

57+ finish meant he had lotta gas in tank at bell - it had been too slow to bell

cursory look at race splits indicates 12'34/12'35 at even pace

malmo wrote:

Approximate 1600m splits

1600 4:04.4 (4:04.4)

3200 8:06.4 (4:02.0)

4800 12:08.5 (4:02.1)

Last 1600 of 4:00.51 as well. Dammmmn.

Yeah, 'cause speed-based guys are so much better at handling early oxygen debt and grinding it out under fatigue.(shaking my head)

Star wrote:

I think stronger runners are more likely to PR this way while those that are more speed based need to get out quicker and maintain.