Yenew Alamirew Closes In 53 To Win Men’s 5,000 At Shanghai Diamond League

by LetsRun.com
May 18, 2014

The first men’s 5,000 of the 2014 Diamond League season featured a slow start (2:41.54 1k, 5:19.42 2k, 7:56.98 3k, 10:38.41 4k) but furious finish tonight in Shanghai.

Heading into the bell, there were still 9 men in the lead pack but heading into the last 100, this was a three-person affair. But there was no doubt who was the best over the last 100 as 23-year-old Yenew Alamirew of Ethiopia won going away in 13:04.83 to finish off with a 53.66 last lap. 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Thomas Longosiwa of Kenya was second in 13:05.44 and 2013 silver medalist Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia was third in 13:06.88.

Final 100

Quick Thought #1: How did Alamirew finish 9th at Worlds last year?

He is VERY good. Last year, he won two of three DL 5,000s (Lausanne/Rome) heading into Worlds with the one loss coming to Mo Farah in Birmingham, but only got 9th in Moscow.

Because of his silver medal, Gebrhiwet is better known than Alamirew but Alamirew evened his lifetime record at 5,000 against Gebrhiwet to 5 wins and 5 losses. Alamirew won 4 of their 5 matchups at 5,000 last year, but lost the one that counted – World Champs.

Quick Thought #2: We thought it would be fun to compare this 5,000 race to the one that was run at Oxy the other day. In Oxy, in much hotter conditions (temps were the 60s today), Collis Birmingham won a 13:18 race with a 55.44 last lap. Here, Gebrhiwet closed in 55 and got his doors blown off in a 13:04 race.

That shows you just how good the Diamond League is.

Quick Thought #3: The fastest two men in the world in 2013, Edwin Soi (12:51.34 last year) and Albert Rop (12:51.96 last year) were fifth and seventh.

ank	Athlete	Nation	Result		Diamond Points	Diamond Ranking
1	ALAMIREW Yenew	ETH	13:04.83	MR	4	1
2	LONGOSIWA Thomas Pkemei	KEN	13:05.44		2	2
3	GEBRHIWET Hagos	ETH	13:06.88		1	3
4	KIPKOECH John	KEN	13:08.23
5	SOI Edwin Cheruiyot	KEN	13:08.79
6	LEGESSE Birhanu	ETH	13:08.88	PB
7	ROP Albert	BRN	13:10.38
8	KANGOGO Cornelius	KEN	13:11.14	PB
9	TAHRI Bouabdellah	FRA	13:12.22	PB
10	NDIKU Jonathan Muia	KEN	13:12.94	SB
11	ADEM Abrar Osman	ERI	13:16.45	PB
12	RONO Vincent	KEN	13:16.52	PB
13	AYALEW Aweke	BRN	13:18.10
14	LETOYIE Moses Mukono	KEN	13:19.26	PB
15	ROBERTSON Zane	NZL	13:23.97
16	BOUQANTAR Soufiyan	MAR	13:32.14
17	KAYA Ali	TUR	13:34.83
18	TOROITICH Timothy	UGA	13:36.60
19	TUEMAY Tsegay	ERI	13:45.98
	RONO Geoffrey Kipkoech	KEN	DNF

4,000m KIPKOECH, John (KEN) 10:38.41

Bell Lap

Alamirew Pulls Away

Alamirew Wins