2013 Prefontaine Classic Men’s 5000: Mo Farah is Beaten By Edwin Soi as Galen Rupp Finishes Sixth

By LetsRun.com
June 1, 2013

Eugene, OR – Kenya’s Olympic bronze medallist Edwin Soi kicked home at 53.5 or 53.6 final lap and pulled away over the final 200 from double Olympic champ Mo Farah to win the men’s 5000 at the 2013 Prefontaine Classic in 13:04.75 as Farah ended up second in 13:05.88 – his first loss outdoors on a track since 2011.

Top American honors went to 38-year old Bernard Lagat who was fifth in 13:07.76.  Oregon’s beloved native Galen Rupp, Farah’s training partner and the Olympic 10,000 silver medallist, rallied from 9th to sixth over the final 200, passing fellow Americans Chris Derrick (7th in a 13:09.04 pb) and Dathan Ritzenhein (9th 13:09.53) in the process to grab top American-born honors, in a race where a huge pack of 11 or 12 guys were still in it at the bell.

Results, quick takes and race video highlights below.

5000 Metres - Men 1 Soi , Edwin Cheruiyot KEN 13:04.75 WL 2 Farah , Mohamed GBR 13:05.88 SB 3 Alamirew , Yenew ETH 13:06.45 4 Longosiwa , Thomas Pkemei KEN 13:07.51 5 Lagat , Bernard USA 13:07.76 6 Rupp , Galen USA 13:08.69 7 Derrick , Chris USA 13:09.04 PB 8 Jeilan , Ibrahim ETH 13:09.16 PB 9 Ritzenhein , Dathan USA 13:09.53 SB 10 Koech , Isiah Kiplangat KEN 13:09.55 11 Kipkoech , John KEN 13:13.13 12 Kipkemoi , Kenneth Kiprop KEN 13:13.91 13 Levins , Cameron CAN 13:15.19PB 14 Kirui , Geoffrey Kipkorir KEN 13:16.68PB 15 Rop , Albert KEN 13:21.18 16 Ibrahimov , Hayle AZE 13:23.59 17 Mead , Hassan USA 13:32.73 18 Kiptoo , Mark Kosgei KEN 13:38.42 19 Birmingham , Collis AUS 13:44.43 20 Thompson , Christopher GBR 14:02.38 Gathimba , Gideon Mwangi KEN DNF Heath , Garrett USA DNF Smaïl , Noureddine FRA DNF
Intermediate times: 1000m Heath, Garrett (USA) 2:36.32
2000m Heath, Garrett (USA) 5:15.80
3000m Gathimba, Gideon (KEN) 7:55.25
4000m Farah, Mo (GBR) 10:38.67

Quick Take (QT) #1: A nice victory for Soi who was way better than everyone else over the final 200. Given how we’d heard all week how sick Farah’s been and how he’s missed significant training time, it’s good someone beat him to show that he’s human. Rivalries and intrigue as to who is going to win/lose are good for the sport.

We estimate Soi closed in 53.5 or 53.6. Farah was about .3 ahead of him at the bell so that means Farah closed in about 54.9, well off of what he’s capable of. In 2011 and 2012 when he won gold at Worlds and the Olympics, he closed in sub 52.75 and 52.94 respectively (although the winning times were just 13:23 and 13:41).

QT #2: We doubt many people will notice it besides us, but 2011 world 10,000 champ Ibrahim Jeilan continues to get better as he comes back after basically missing all of last year. From 13:47 for a road 5k at Carlsbad in April, to a 13:16 in New York in May to 13:09 today. It’s good to see him moving forward.

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QT #3: As good as Rupp was last year and as good as he was indoors, it was surprising not to see him more in the mix. He was way back (9th) with 200 to go and seemingly kicked for pride to make sure he got Ritz and Derrick. We had his last 400 in 57.36 (29.44, 27.92).

In our eyes, his kick for sixth was very reminscent of Alysia Montaño’s kick for fourth in the 800. We don’t believe if the people in front of him were Americans that he’d have finished as high.Pride matters. Just as college kids will try extra hard to not lose to certain teammates, American pros do it as well.

QT #4: Dathan Ritzenhein looked full of run for the first time in a long time on the track. While his PB is the 12:56.27 he ran for the American record in 2009, this was actually his second best 5000 time.

We caught up with Ritz for a lengthy post-race interview which is embedded below. One interesting thing for those of you who think Farah’s illness may have been exaggerated is Ritz told us going into the race he thought he might be able to beat Farah based on how poorly he’d been looking in practice.

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QT #5: American Chris Derrick started off in the back of the race and moved up. As a result, he told us he didn’t feel great, but was motivated late in the race when he realized he was right with some guys he knew and hoped to be running with. For those of you who don’t believe our point #3, realize that Derrick himself told us he thought he was going to be ‘second American’ and even had his eyes on Lagat. Of course, they pay more attention to fellow Americans.

QT #6: While Canada’s Cam Levins PRd today, he wasn’t happy. Interview below.

QT #7: Farah and Rupp walked through the interview area without stopping for interviews.

We had Rupp’s splits as follows:

63.36
63.73 – 2:06.99
237.8 for 1k for Rupp at 1k.
1200 – 309.9 p.
1600- 64.13 p. 4:13.99 so 414.
5:17.3. 63.3 for 2k
63.8 for 2400- 6:21.1 . 637-8 at halfway for Rupp
Maybe 756 for 23k for Rupp??
3200- 2:08.6 for last 800. 8:29.7 for 3200.
1600 to go: 901.9 for leaders maybe. Rupp 902 mid.
64.59 to 3600.
31.88 to 3 laps to go 10:06.13 for Rupp and Farah side by side. 1-2. Crowd very excited.
10:38.67 for 4k for leaders.
63.85 for Rupp 800 to go. Lagat in fourth.
60.86 (30.93, 29.93)
57.36 (29.44, 27.92).

Race temp was 25 Celsius according to the thermometer on the track which is 77 degrees.

QT #8: If you listen to the race above, you’ll see NBC announcer Tom Hammonds had a tough time at the end of this one – failing to realize who won the race until well after it was over.

More: MB: Tom Hammond

More LRC Pre Coverage:
Highlight:Women’s 800:High Schooler Mary Cain Breaks 2:00 As Francine Niyonsaba Dominates

Men:
5k: Mo Farah is Beaten By Edwin Soi as Galen Rupp Finishes Sixth
Bowerman Mile: Silas Kiplagat Steals The Race From Asbel Kiprop at The Line as 9 Guys Run 3:51 or Faster
Steeple: Conseslus Kipruto Survives Ezekiel Kemboi’s Shove; Evan Jager 8:08
Men’s 800: Mohammed Aman Dominates As Nick Symmonds Debuts in Third

Women:
5k: Tirunesh Dibaba Survives A Scare From Mercy Cherono
1500: Hellen Obiri Wins in 3:58 as Treniere Moser and Sheila Reid Run 4:02

Friday: Kenenisa Bekele Wins 10,000m, But Time Disappoints at 2013 Prefontaine Classic
*Men’s International Mile: James Magut Wins, No HS Sub-4 As Will Leer Gets Top American Honors as Andrew Wheating Runs ‘Scared’
*Men’s National 1500: Garrett Heath Wins, Chris Solinsky’s Lacking Speed And Alan Webb Struggles But Is Happy
*Women’s 800: Phoebe Wright Gets The Win, Ajee Wilson’s Winning Streak Comes To An End And Gabrielle Anderson PR’s

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