2013 Worlds Men’s 5000m Semifinal Recap: The Americans and the Favorites Advance

Heat 1: A Healthy Bernard Lagat Advances With Ryan Hill, A Fall Takes Out John Kipkoech

This heat like so many others came down to the final lap as there were 11 guys still in contention at the bell including all the favorites. The top 5 would automatically advance to the final.

The bunched nature of this one did create a problem with 2 laps to go when Kenyan John Kipkoech went down to the track. He got back up and sprinted hard to regain the pack in the next 200m. He would pay the price and not be a factor the final lap.

100m To go 7 Guys in Contention

The final lap really came down to the final 100m, where Ethiopian teammates and rivals Hagos Gebrehiwet and Yenew Alamirew, former World Champion Bernard Lagat,  and Kenyan star Thomas Longosiwa were clearly best.

Next best without a doubt was American Ryan Hill who comfortably picked up the final auto qualifying spot for the final. Hill has been on the upswing the last few months. Hill, the NCAA runner-up in the mile indoors, was only 9th at NCAAs in the 1500m outdoors. His fortunes turned at USAs where in a super slow race he used his speed to get the third spot in the 5000m. He then hit the World Championship qualifying standard and now finds himself in the final.

Splits: 4:18.95 at 1600m and 8:09.07 at 3000m. The field was roughly 9:15 with 1600 to go so they ran the last 1600 in only a modest 4:08. The last lap was 56.39.

QT: Kipkoech falling is not a big deal (unless he was going to serve as a Kenyan rabbit in the final). We did not expect him to be a factor in the final. LRC Preview of the 5000m here. He was only fifth at the Kenyan Trials and had only run 13:01 this year. The Kenyans got to enter four as they had the Diamond League winner last year.

QT #2 Bernard Lagat Is Healthy and with a Beard: Bernard Lagat dropped out of his last race, the 5000m in Monaco. Today, Lagat said the he worked with a physio to take care of the issue in his hip and  he is ready to go with no problems from it. He said he thought he might have aggravated his hip by running too much mileage.

The 38 year old Lagat is sporting a beard for the first time at a major Championship ands aid jokingly he wants some of the youngsters to show him the proper respect. Lagat noted there is some urgency to medal this year as by the end of calendar year 2014, Lagat will be 40. If Lagat medals he will be the oldest male medallist at a Worlds.

QT #3: Ryan Hill in the Final
Ryan Hill did not look like a novice in advancing automatically for the final. He said for the final he would love a race in the 13:30 range, so he can use his kick.

HEAT 2 The Studs Run Like It

The runners in heat 2 had the advantage of knowing what time it would take to be an auto qualifier for the final, yet Heat 2 started slower than heat #1. It would finish much faster.

1600m was reached in 4:26.90 (heat 1 was 4:18.95).

Mo Farah Leads At the Bell (Click for Photo Gallery of the Semifinals)

At 3k  8:14.69, this field was still 5.6 seconds slower than heat #1. With 1600m to go they were roughly 3 seconds slower. However, some of the bigger names including Mo Farah and Isiah Koech started pushing the pace the next k which was covered in 2:37 and with a km to go, heat #2 was already faster than heat #1. The increase in pace however paid its toll on most of the field, as only six guys were in contention with 1k to go.

Farah was in front now and from 1000m to 600m to go ran a 61.08. Dejene Regassa failed to maintaing contact with the lead pack pack and at the bell, the 5 stop guys in this heat: Farah, his training partner and Olympic 10k silver medallist Galen Rupp, Kenyans Edwin Soi and Isiah Koech, and Ethiopian Muktar Edris were clear of everyone else and would get the 5 auto spots for the final.

The last lap was only a matter of sorting out who finished where. Farah and Rupp backed off the final 100m while Muktar Edris made a point of running hard to win the heat. Dejene Regassa would get the final spot for the final on time.

Splits: 4:26.90 at 1600m and 8:14.69 at 3000m. The field was roughly 9:18 with 1600 to go so they ran the last 1600 in only roughly 4:02. The last lap leader to leader was 57.17.

QT #1: Farah and Rupp Recovered Fine from 10k
Rupp said he was disappointed to not medal at 10,000m but had no problems gearing back up for the 5000m. Farah controlled the race for much of it.

QT #2: Remember Mo Farah Isn’t Unbeatable
Edwin Soi outkicked Mo Farah at the Prefontaine Classic this year, so Soi knows the “unbeatable” Farah is beatable. After today’s semi, Soi said just realizing that Farah could be beat was what he took away from Pre.

QT #3: The Guys You Expected to Make the Final Did
It should be a good one. Our LRC preview of the final before Worlds started is here. Today’s action didn’t make us change much of our thoughts on the final.

Diego Estrada Talks About Not Making Final Running 5000m Instead of 10,000m

Isiah Koech After Making Final