A Bekele Runs 12:52 and Mo Ahmed Breaks Canadian 5,000m Record
by LetsRun.com
June 6, 2019
Editor’s note. The article below is in our full Rome meet recap here, but we felt it deserved its own emphasis.
Last year, the world had to wait all the way until August 31 to see its first sub-13:00 5,000 of the year. This year, the world didn’t have to wait long at all for a sub-13:00 as six men — including five born in Ethiopia — broke 13:00 today in Rome.
Leading the way was 20-year-old Telahun Bekele, who came into the meet relatively unknown but left a Diamond League winner, as he ran a huge personal best of 12:52.98 (previous pb of 13:04.63). Bekele got the narrow win over the Selemon Barega (12:53.04), the fastest man in the world last year at 12:43.02, thanks to an inside pass just before the line. Bekele’s last lap was 54.7 (26.9 last 200). Behind him, the sixth and final man under 13:00 was celebrating a national record as Canada’s Mo Ahmed ran 12:58.16 to become the first Canadian under 13:00 (breaking his own NR of 13:01.74).
5000 Metres - Men - Diamond Discipline
Pts
1 Bekele , Telahun Haile ETH 12:52.98 8
2 Barega , Selemon ETH 12:53.04 7
3 Gebrhiwet , Hagos ETH 12:54.92 6
4 Balew , Birhanu BRN 12:56.26 5
5 Hadis , Abadi ETH 12:56.48 4
6 Ahmed , Mohammed CAN 12:58.16 3
7 Pingua , Edward Zakayo KEN 13:03.19 2
8 Butchart , Andrew GBR 13:09.33 1
9 Crippa , Yemaneberhan ITA 13:09.52
10 Knight , Justyn CAN 13:09.76
11 True , Ben USA 13:09.81
12 Birgen , Bethwell KEN 13:10.21
13 Kiplangat , Davis KEN 13:11.65
14 Ingebrigtsen , Filip NOR 13:11.75
15 Kifle , Aron ERI 13:13.85
16 Chelimo , Oscar UGA 13:20.10
17 Tanui , Paul Kipngetich KEN 13:23.13
18 Mengesha , Milkesa ETH 13:25.74
19 Willis , Nicholas NZL 13:56.94
Hiss Bachir , Youssouf DJI DNF
Letting , Vincent KEN DNF
The race
With low 70-degree temps, the leading men in the 5000 wanted to run fast today. Soon the race was being run single-file as the first 1k was covered in 2:32. After 3k was hit in 7:45, it was clear a sub-13 was definitely in the works. While the pace slowed a little bit as it so often does during the 4th km (2:39.77), big times were in store as the last km is always the fastest thanks to the huge last lap.
Six guys were still in the lead pack at the bell but the final lap quickly turned into a two-person race between the 20-year-old Bekele and 19-year-old Barega. Barega took the lead early on the final turn but coming home he drifted out to the outside of lane one and Bekele nipped him on the inside just before the line.
All together, 10 of the 19 finishers in the field set a personal best, but Kiwi Nick Willis was not one of them, struggling to last in 13:56.
Quick Take: A new star is born/Who the hell is Telahun Bekele?
Telahun Haile Bekele wasn’t known by many heading into this year. Last year, he did run 13:04 in June but he only made one appearance on the DL circuit (13:07 for 7th in Lausanne) before getting 5th in the 5000 at World Juniors. Of course, not medalling in the 5000 at World Juniors in 2019 wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as the 4th placer in the race, Selemon Barega, ended up being the world leader at 12:43.
Bekele is now the 2019 world leader, but as Steven Mills points out, he’s still only the third-fastest Bekele in history (although he’s not related to Kenenisa or Tariku):
Telahun Haile Bekele runs a 12:52.98 5000m PB for victory in Rome but is still only the third fastest Bekele of all-time behind Kenenisa and Tariku.
— Steven Mills (@srmills90) June 6, 2019
With a last name of Bekele (and a middle name of Haile), perhaps he realizes he needs to brand himself focusing on his first name as after the race he celebrated by doing this:
The “T”
Quick Take: Making the Ethiopian team at 5000 isn’t going to be easy
While Kenya may be struggling for 5,000-meter runners right now, Ethiopia is overflowing with 5k talent with Bekele, Barega, Yomif Kejelcha, Hagos Gebrhiwet, and Muktar Edris. Kejelcha, Barega, and Gebrhiwet all broke 12:50 last year in Brussels, and Edris is the defending world champ, but now Bekele looks pretty darn good himself.
The way the Ethiopians are running right now, it may be harder to make the Ethiopian team than to medal at Worlds this year. Ethiopia will get four entrants at Worlds this year, but that fourth spot could go one of two ways. Ethiopia could give it to Edris, the reigning world champ who hasn’t raced on the track yet in 2019. Or they almost certainly will end up with the DL champion in the 5000 this year (remember the DL season ends before Worlds), who could take a wildcard. Regardless, their team will be stacked as last year they had five guys at 12:56 or better and tonight they had four at 12:56 in this single race. For context, no American has run 12:56 or faster since Bernard Lagat in 2011.
It may be that Gebrhiwet, who was third tonight, ends up focusing on the 10,000 after running 27:01 in Stockholm last week.
“We have a very strong Ethiopian team for the World Championships,” Gebrhiwet said after today’s race. “I will be concentrating on the 10K which is a very hard race.”
Quick Take: If Barega didn’t drift outside, he would have been the winner
Barega, who appeared to be chomping at the bit and ready to run fast from the get-go, running right with the rabbit, should have won this race. If he hadn’t drifted to the outside of lane 1, there is no way Bekele would have gotten by him. So a thumbs down to his tactics but we guess we’ll give him a thumbs up for sportsmanship as many runners would have instinctively frantically tried to come back inside to protect the win and potentially have fouled Bekele.
Barega wasn’t happy afterwards.
“This was not a good race. I organized everything but in the end Telahun Haile overtook me. Yet, it was a good training for me. I hope to do better in my next races in Oslo (3k) and Hengelo (10k).”
Quick Take: O Canada!
Don’t look now, but Canada now has two guys faster than the fastest American in 2019 over 5,000 meters.
Ahmed set a national record of 12:58, and just over 10 seconds back was two-time NCAA champion Justyn Knight, who slashed his pb from 13:17.51 to 13:09.76.
It’s been a good time to be a Canadian 5,000-meter runner as the men’s and women’s records have both been broken in the last eight days (Gabriela DeBues-Stafford got the women’s record in Stockholm last week).
Quick Take: Ben True is the first American under the 2020 Olympic standard
With the Olympic standards getting significantly harder in 2020 and the USATF selection procedure still unclear, it’s more important than ever to go into the Olympic trials with the standard. Ben True won’t have to sweat it out next year, as he ran 13:09 today to become the first American to run under the 13:13.50 Olympic standard since the qualifying window opened in May.