Great News for Grant Fisher: Ethiopia Pulls Yomif Kejelcha in 5000 for Biniam Mehary

He has never run that fast? He is 17 years old? He has run 12:54. Well…I think you otherwise make a good argument but maybe he has huge upside.

Plus he ran 26:37 at 17? I don’t know if he is only 17 as listed but damn…

He’s really good no doubt and young (more likely 19 than 17 as Ethiopian media listed him at 18 when he emerged). That being said Kejelcha is the better athlete now by some margin.

So why do you think they made the decision? Maybe they see something in the kid. Maybe they are tired of Kejelcha usually underperforming in global chamionships. It does seem a bit unexpected, but this kid is capable of getting a medal.

Ethiopia can’t get out of their own way with the politics. Jakob laughing all the way to the bank…

If true that’s such BS and I feel horrible for kejelcha, felt like this was finally his year to get a medal in the 5000

I get the kid is uber talented, but taking a gold medal contender out and replacing him with who could very well end up being another sacrificial lamb for Gebrhiwet does not make a lot of sense. Between him and Yihune, if they can’t pace Gebrhiewt to win anything but a gold, this is gonna be a worse disappointment than last year when the three Ethiopians faded to irrelevance the last 200.

There’s no way they don’t plan on the pace being hot from the gun, right? If they start with a 2:40 first km, you might as well take the last 10 laps to engrave Jakob’s name on the gold medal.

Wrong last name?

This makes zero sense. What the heck is Ethiopia doing? Gebrhiewet doesn’t do crap at the Olympics either (likely has to cycle off the drugs) and Kjelcha is a legitimate contender to win! The 5000 is also Kjelcha’s better distance.

This is insane.

The Ethiopians just love shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to their selection for Olympic/worlds. Putting Deresa Geleta, a guy who’s never even competed in a world marathon majors in the men’s marathon team over Tola, leaving the world indoor champ Hailu out of the women’s 1500m and now leaving Kejelcha out of the 5000m. They can’t coach the men’s shorter distances even with all the talents that they have (no one in the 800m and all 3 in the 1500m most likely not making it to the finals) and they let politics and favoritism get into their selection process for the longer distances and cut their medal chances. I won’t be at all surprised if no one on the men’s side get a gold and the Kenyans sweep them on the women’s side from the 800m to the marathon.

I'm not sure this was a dumb decision.

1. Mehary is a teenager who has run sub 26:40. Lots of upside.

2. He will be running the 5000 on fresh legs. Kejelcha is running the 10000. It's hard to double back, especially in warm weather.

3. Kejelcha always underperforms at championships.

4. Kejelcha has been running very good times since early 2024. He might be past his peak.

5. Maybe there's something we don't know. Maybe this young man agreed to push the pace. This would be the way for Team Ethiopia to defeat Jakob.

He’s a time trialist. Was never going to be in contention for the win

...

Please show were he was listed as being 18, PROOF please not speculation 😁

Does anyone know how it works for the Olympics? Does Ethiopia have to list 4 names for the 5000 now? I wish the Olympics would let them use some common sense and just say -
Here are the Olympians for the 10 and 5k and our reserves, but we're not sure exactly who is going to run the 5000. We'll let you know who runs the 5000 after the 10,000 takes place.

When the team was initially released. Barega was the reserve in the 5000.

If I was Ethioia, I 100% would enter a sacrificial lamb in the 5000 and make them rabbit. Enter your best two and a rabbit. Either that or hand the gold to Jakob.

Here is the Ethiopian list for 5000 in 2024:

1 (1) 12:36.73 NR Hagos Gebrhiwet
2 (2) 12:38.95 Yomif Kejelcha
3 (5) 12:49.65 Addisu Yihune
4 (9) 12:51.60 Selemon Barega
5 (12) 12:52.09 Berihu Aregawi
6 (13) 12:54.10 Biniam Mehary
7 (19) 12:55.78 Samuel Tefera
8 (29) 12:58.96 Lamecha Girma
9 (34) 13:00.95 Telahun Haile
10 (35) 13:02.56 Tadese Worku

If they weren't going to go off of time, they might be better off putting Girma in there as he might have a chance for a medal if it's tactical but it looks like they don't want anyone doubling unless it's Tsegay who can triple. :) Ethiopia treating the Olympic 5000 like it's a participation event.

Here was their initial team.

https://x.com/buzi2011/status/1809234389290643846

Surely the Hailu decision can't be as simple as choosing their athletes strictly off the road to paris list?

This is such a baffling decision that it makes me wonder if a major sponsor or rival agent bribed the official(s) to take Yomif out of the picture so [fill in name of Western athlete] has a better shot at medaling. Biniam is not in the same league as Yomif this year.

I am really, really glad in the US top 3 go to the olympics. No exceptions. Fairest system on the planet. Imagine leaving the decision up to some fat cats --- ugh.

It does appear that maybe Yomif Kejelcha had a disagreement about something regarding how they would approach the 5000m. He wrote something about when would he be allowed to run freely and without the pressure of the country on him. I suspect the teenager is just thrilled to participate and is more amenable to some plan or strategy and Yomif is not, as he figured he shouldn’t be viewed as a pawn in a larger game. Of course I am reading between the lines here.

I actually agree with this. I was initially surprised, but after looking into it, I'm cool with it. In addition to what you said, Mehary has also run 3:34 for the 1500 indoors this year and ran that at world indoors. That, in addition to running 7:33 indoors, 12:54 outdoors and 26:37 outdoors, gives him some really impressive range heading into Paris. Only issue otherwise would be inexperience...but I think he has the tools to back this selection up. Beat Gebrhiwet by 35 seconds at the Ethiopian olympic trials 10k too!