Galen Rupp Not Running 5000m in Birmingham This Weekend
by: LetsRun.com
February 13, 2013
American star Galen Rupp will not be running the 5000m at the British Athletics Grand Prix in Birmingham this weekend.
Rupp was slated to run the 5000m to try and get back the American record from Bernard Lagat who ran 13:07.15 last year to take the record away from Rupp.
David Monti, the pro athlete coordinator for many of the NYRR’s events, broke the news yesterday via twitter. (LRC and the LRC community were a day late on picking up on this news).
The 5000m at the #BirminghamGP on Saturday has been cancelled, as has @g_rupp‘s participation in the meet. @mo_farah will run the 3000m.
— David Monti (@d9monti) February 12, 2013
Simon Hart an Olympic sports writer for the Daily Telegraph has a little more info on Galen tweeting:
UK Athletics inform that Galen Rupp is unwell and, with other drop-outs, it was decided to drop men’s 5K in Brum and replace with women’s 3K
— Simon Hart (@SiHart) February 12, 2013
Galen’s attempt to get the American record and to become the 7th man ever under 13:00 indoors will have to wait at least a little while.
LRC has reached out to to Pace Sports Management (Rupp’s agent) to see what Galen’s next racing plans are.
Galen Rupp winning silver last year
According to Simon Hart of the Independent, Galen was slated to race the 5000m versus Olympic 5000m silver medallist Dejen Gebremeskel. The 5000m has now been scrapped. There is a 3000m with double Olympic champion Mo Farah racing a weak field hoping to pick up a win in his first race of 2013.
The top distance race in Birmingham in our book is the men’s 800m where Abubaker Kaki is slated to race Mohammed Aman.
Speaking of Bernard Lagat, he will be competing for American fans before a national TV audience at the Millrose Games. Lagat is out to retake the 2 mile record (8:09.72) that Galen Rupp took from him last year.
On the boards: Galen Rupp pulls out of this weekend’s AR 5000 attempt- question is why?
LRC Archives:
Last Year on the Same Day:
*Galen Gets Bernard’s Record: Galen Rupp’s American 2-Mile Record Is Highlight Among 5 World Leaders At 2012 USATF Track Classic
*Bernard Gets Galen Record: Men’s 5,000 Meters: Lagat And Lalang Put On A Show As Lagat Smashes American Record