Isaac Kimeli (born 9 March 1994[3] in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya) is a Kenyan born Belgian middle- and long-distance runner. Kimeli won one Diamond League meeting, securing victory in the 5000 m at the 2019 Memorial Van Damme in Brussels (promotional event) with a personal best of 13:13.02.[3]
You did notice that your own source confirmed that he is Belgian, right?
Fisher beat all the Ethiopians but got beat by some Belgian guy I've never heard of. Absolutely smoked in that kick.
Not sure what to make of it.
Probably that Grant will be in the hunt for the medals and it's wide open for sure if Jakob isn't there.
Make nothing of it, other than Grant is replicating what he did last year.
Heading into Paris, Grant got kicked down by Dominic Lobalu/SUI, 7:27.68 to 7:27.99. And was only 0.54 ahead of Edwin Kurgat/KEN in 3rd.
At the Oly 10,000, Grant's bronze beats Kimeli's 19th place by over a minute.
Then, in the 5,000 final, Grant passes Kimeli, Kurgat & Lobalu to go from 9th to another bronze over the final 300 meters. In fact. Lobalu expressed surprise afterwards that he was beaten by "the American" whom he had smoked in London a few weeks prior.
With no Zurich, Grant now has 24 days to begin his long taper to the Tokyo 10,000 on 9/13 where he should be the co-favorite with Kejelcha, Barega & Aregawi.
It was absolutely pouring rain... the cameras were blurry. I am guessing the big guns were like "eff this... I'm not getting injured right before Worlds". But Kimeli saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity and went all out. Cool hair too!
1. He can gap the whole field (OK, most of it) with that kick of his. 2. There likely still one or two who have a better kick and a final 1k of 2:30 won’t be enough to run it out of them. 3. He uniquely has the kick plus strength to wind up the pace much earlier… so do it.
The problem is that 3. is easier said than done, because you’ve got to get lucky or be savvy enough to find your moment to get off the rail and avoid getting boxed. (See US Champs.) Fisher needs to get out so he can make it go from a mile out. — might be wise to stretch it to go from 1800 - 2000m out.
And it’s not just Kimeli, as even if no Jakob… Don’t forget there’s Hocker
Well, no one said it would be easy, but I think this race is good news for Grant Fisher.
Kimeli is no kicker at all. He gets outrun in the last k or outkicked by everyone around him in almost all of the big races he competes in. In the most recent Olympics he was 3 seconds slower than Fisher over the final 200! This is really absurd. As a Belgian I cheer for Kimeli, but I cannot fathom how it’s possible he won the race like he just did.
Well he did, so keep fathoming until you get to the bottom of it. Then report back.
And BTW: I believe Fisher did do enough to qualify for the diamond league final. See the wildcard rules for entry…
A global wild card athlete must have competed in at least one Diamond League meeting in the course of the season, and must fulfil at least one of the following criteria in their chosen discipline: – World record holder – Reigning world, Olympic or Diamond League champion – Top 5 in the World Athletics rankings of their event – Top 20 in the overall World Athletics rankings
He meets the criteria as (indoor) world record holder, and as top 5 in the 5000 (or 3000) rankings.
But it does seem to be up to the organizers if they want to invite him.
Not a big deal. Fisher planned to stalk and finish. He thought he had cleared the field and only had to deal with the one guy in front of him, and perhaps a token burst from the outside that he could also handle.
Instead he was caught off guard by cannon fire from an unexpected source. It happened so fast it was already over. You could sense Fisher thinking where the hell did that come from?
He was well beaten but to Fisher's credit he mentally regrouped and sprinted to finish as intended.
It reminded me of a horse race in which two principals are so preoccupied with each other on the rail they totally miss the deep closer on the far outside. That was the only way Alydar only defeated Affirmed, twice as 2 year olds.
Fisher deserves his new status but he's still vulnerable to many other guys, given ideal scenarios for them.
Isaac Kimeli spent teh first fifteen years of his life in Kenya. He is Kenyan. He represents Belgium, that's it. It's teh same for all of these transferees. You cannot simply wipe or ignore someone's long time heritage. Exactly the same with Koech, whom I expect will settle back in Kenya when his military and track career concludes.
For those who had the Cram commentary, he noticed that Fisher attempted to break out of being boxed in at least twice by surging on the inside rail. Both times he abruptly lost momentum running into a slower-moving leader. Cram noted that Fisher ought to go outwards instead, which he eventually did. But wonder if those fruitless surges zapped a little out of his final lap.
