Bye Bye to the 5,000: How Fast Will They Run in Zurich? Will Emma Coburn Get the American Record in the Steeple?

by LetsRun.com
August 28, 2019 

The first Diamond League final is here with Thursday’s Weltklasse meet in Zurich and it should be a great one.

Sadly, since this could be the final men’s 5,000m EVER in the Diamond League and the field is absolutely STACKED we decided to hold a contest to see how fast you think it will go and who will win it. The “death of the 5,000” deserves a sending off party. Last year, Selemon Barega ran 12:43 in the Diamond League final and this year’s field is loaded (we’ve got our men’s 5,000m preview below the contest form).

Winners get this (use code LETSRUN to save 15%)

And since Emma Coburn could be the first American woman under 9:00 in the steeplechase we’re going to hold a separate contest for her to see who can predict her time.

Winners in the 5,000 contest will be the person who picks the correct winner and then is closest to the winning time. For the Coburn contest, all you have to do is come closet to picking her finishing time. We will draw from a hat for ties.

Winners will get a certified CBD Hydration Electrolyte Pack from our sponsor FloydsofLeadville.com. (If you’d like to save 15% on certified CBD Products click here and use code LETSRUN.)

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Our full Zurich preview is here, but we’re republishing our 5k preview below.

Men’s 5,000 (3:21 p.m. ET): Say goodbye to the men’s 5k

It’s still hard to believe that the IAAF is scrapping the 5,000 from its list of Diamond League events in 2020. The last two Diamond League finals have produced two of the most thrilling 5ks in recent memory: first the epic four-way kick in 2017 that doubled as the final track race of Mo Farah‘s career; then the crazy-fast affair in 2018 that saw three men break 12:48 in the same race for the first time in history. Now we’re down to one last Diamond League 5,000.

Take a moment to consider the significance of that. The Diamond League offers prize money, fast races, and exposure. Without that structure, all three of those things could disappear in 2020. Yes, Diamond League meets are still free to offer the 5,000 as a non-Diamond League event (as London did this year), but how many will do that now that they are no longer required? The men’s 5,000 is a 12.5-lap event dominated by Ethiopians, many of whom have limited English skills. If meet directors wanted to keep the event so badly, it wouldn’t have been announced as a cut before the 2019 season even began.

A few years from now, it’s not hard to imagine the 5,000 occupying the same space as the 10,000 currently does — an event that is only relevant at major championships and otherwise mostly ignored. Diamond League meets have produced 43 of the 50 fastest men’s 5,000s in the world this year. That’s because they have the prize money and travel/lodging budget to attract top fields and pay for pacemakers. Without that infrastructure in place — and in particular, without the prize money — some of the event’s top talents may turn to the roads. Which, in turn, lowers the overall level of competition and makes the event even less interesting.

“Based on how they changed it and they’re talking about 3ks in the Diamond League, maybe [the time to move up to the marathon] becomes pretty, pretty soon,” said US 5,000m ace Paul Chelimo in March. “I don’t know how I’ll cope with that. It’s tough. I’ll just see how it goes, but if it doesn’t work for me, there’s the road races. Thank God there’s the road races. I don’t know what the future is. If they’re going to push everyone to the road races and, like two people do the track…”

So savor Thursday’s race, because moving forward, you may not get to see the world’s top 5,000 runners chase a fast time together very often.

The assumptions is the top guys will be looking to run fast. There are rumblings on the LRC messageboard that Stewart McSweyn wants Craig Mottram‘s Australian record of 12:55.76, and the presence of his Melbourne Track Club teammate Ryan Gregson on the start list lends credence to that claim.

LetsRun.com reached out to Gregson, who confirmed that he is indeed pacing, but he said they hadn’t spoken about the Australian record; the goal is sub-13 (he’s slated to take the field through 2k in 5:11, with Pat Tiernan going through 3k in 7:47, which is 12:58 pace). That’s attainable for McSweyn, and well within the wheelhouse of the top Ethiopians such as Yomif Kejelcha, Selemon Barega, Telahun Bekele, and Hagos Gebrhiwet. And how will American Paul Chelimo respond after being beaten at USAs by Lopez Lomong?

Then there is Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha who is undefeated this year at 5k, but only the 5th fastest Ethiopian in the race. Last year when Selemon Barega won the final in 12:43, it was because Kejelcha was fearless in pushing the pace in the middle to latter stages of the race. If Kejelcha feels he needs a fast time to secure his spot on the Ethiopian team for Worlds, once again we could see something special.

*Our full Zurich preview is here,

On our weekly podcast we discussed Zurich in detail. Click here: [spp-timestamp time=”58:33″] to here our men’s 5,000m talk.

Listen to the full podcast in the player below, or on your favorite podcast platform. (Click on a Zurich timestamp to start at that point)
[spp-timestamp time=”38:09″] No Bowerman Track Club at Diamond League Final
[spp-timestamp time=”46:01″] Diamond League Final Preview: Men’s 800: Donavan Brazier vs Nijel Amos, Murphy, & Crew
[spp-timestamp time=”51:03″] Can Emma Coburn Go Sub 9 in the Steeple?
[spp-timestamp time=”53:50″] Women’s 1500: Sifan Hassan vs Tirunesh Dibaba and Jenny Simpson
[spp-timestamp time=”58:33″] Final DL Men’s 5000 Ever: What Does Kejelcha Need to Do?
[spp-timestamp time=”62:30″] 400m Hurdle Talk: Rai Benjamin vs Karsten Warholm, Dalilah Muhammad vs Sydney McLaughlin
[spp-timestamp time=”67:26″] Which Diamond League meet should be cut? How to broadcast it better?
[spp-timestamp time=”72:04″] Men’s 100: Talk: Noah Lyles vs Justin Gatlin
[spp-player track_player url=”https://pinecast.com/listen/f44fa7c1-743a-46cb-938c-3bc88ce6b606.mp3″ title=”Podcast: Will Christian Coleman Be at Worlds? Zurich Weltklasse Preview, Transgender Woman to Run NCAA Cross Country, Can Coburn Go Sub 9?”]