With One Shoe, Paul Chelimo Makes 5K Final, Calls Out LetsRun Doubters

By Jonathan Gault
September 27, 2019

DOHA, Qatar — Usually the 5,000-meter prelims don’t produce much drama, but there was plenty of it on day 1 of the 2019 World Championships. The biggest news by far was the disqualification of Norway’s teenage superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who stepped inside the rail in the final 200m of his prelim. That development gets its own article here: LRC Teenage Sensation Jakob Ingebrigtsen DQ’d, Then Reinstated in World Championships 5K

Update: He’s been reinstated but this article was written with him out. We’ve changed the results below to show them with him in the final.

The other drama came in heat 2, when America’s Paul Chelimo lost his shoe after he was clipped from behind with a little over a mile to go but still managed to win his heat in impressive fashion, looking like Paul Chelimo, the Olympic and world medallist in 2016 and 2017.

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All the major players advanced to the final. Three Ethiopians — including Muktar Edris, who looked strong — and both Kenyans made it to the final, along with sub-13:00 man Moh Ahmed of Canada and Australian star Stewart McSweyn. American Hassan Mead also advanced, nabbing a time qualifier out of heat 2, but the third American, Ben True, missed out (8th heat 1, .93 out of qualifying, as did NCAA champ Morgan McDonald of Australia (7th heat 1, .46 out of qualifying).

Results

Heat 1

POS BIB ATHLETE COUNTRY MARK
1 695 Selemon BAREGA ETHETH 13:24.69 Q
2 1290 Jacob KROP KENKEN 13:24.94 Q
3 700 Muktar EDRIS ETHETH 13:25.00 Q SB
4 1486 Jakob INGEBRIGTSEN NORNOR 13:25.20 Q
5 394 Mohammed AHMED CANCAN 13:25.35 Q
6 361 Birhanu BALEW BRNBRN 13:25.70 q
7 819 Andrew BUTCHART GBRGBR 13:26.46
8 169 Morgan MCDONALD AUSAUS 13:26.80
9 1933 Ben TRUE USAUSA 13:27.39
10 177 Patrick TIERNAN AUSAUS 13:28.42
11 1085 Yemaneberhan CRIPPA ITAITA 13:29.08
12 1680 Julien WANDERS SUISUI 13:38.95
13 249 Robin HENDRIX BELBEL 13:39.69
14 1791 Oscar CHELIMO UGAUGA 13:42.94
15 849 Marc SCOTT GBRGBR 13:47.12
16 928 Richard RINGER GERGER 13:49.20
17 145 Jamal Abdelmaji EISA MOHAMMED ARTART 14:15.32
18 1334 Tariq Ahmed AL AMRI KSAKSA 14:21.19
19 897 Braima Suncar DABÓ GBSGBS 18:10.87 PB
151 Jonathan BUSBY ARUARU DQ

Heat 2

POS BIB ATHLETE COUNTRY MARK
1 1873 Paul CHELIMO USAUSA 13:20.18 Q
2 696 Telahun Haile BEKELE ETHETH 13:20.45 Q
3 1484 Filip INGEBRIGTSEN NORNOR 13:20.52 Q
4 170 Stewart MCSWEYN AUSAUS 13:20.58 Q
5 1280 Nicholas Kipkorir KIMELI KENKEN 13:20.82 Q
6 250 Isaac KIMELI BELBEL 13:20.99 q
7 1485 Henrik INGEBRIGTSEN NORNOR 13:21.22 q
8 1918 Hassan MEAD USAUSA 13:22.11 q SB
9 407 Justyn KNIGHT CANCAN 13:25.95 q
10 1797 Stephen KISSA UGAUGA 13:27.36
11 616 Bouh IBRAHIM DJIDJI 13:36.39
12 820 Ben CONNOR GBRGBR 13:36.92
13 923 Sam PARSONS GERGER 13:38.53
14 704 Abadi HADIS ETHETH 13:42.89
15 1371 Soufiyan BOUQANTAR MARMAR 14:03.16
16 146 Tachlowini GABRIYESOS ARTART 14:28.11
1088 Said EL OTMANI ITAITA DNF
537 Gerald Nicolas GIRALDO VILLA COLCOL DNF
393 Viro MA CAMCAM DNF

Quick Take: An already weakened event took more hits today

The LetsRun preview of this event mentioned some of the big names who won’t be running the 5,000 here — Mo Farah, Joshua Cheptegei, and Yomif Kejelcha — and today the final took two more hits as Ingebrigtsen was DQ’d and Hagos Gebrhiwet, the man LetsRun viewed as the favorite for gold, was a scratch (he’s doing the 10,000 only).

Gebrhiwet wanted to double, but the Ethiopian federation entered him in the 10,000 only. I bumped into Gebrhiwet’s agent Mark Wetmore in the mixed zone, and he said that he only found out that Gebrhiwet would be doing only the 10,000 on Thursday — just one day before the 5k prelims.

The Ethiopian federation made a huge mistake here. Though Gebrhiwet has never doubled at a major champs before, he showed earlier this summer that he doesn’t have trouble bouncing back as he won the 5,000 over Ingebrigtsen in London just three days after running 26:48 to win the Ethiopian 10,000 trials. Ethiopia had the gold-medal favorite in the 5,000 and chose not to run him in favor of Abadi Hadis, who was awful today, finishing 14th in heat 2.

Quick Take: Chelimo looks great, says his foot is all good, and calls out LetsRun.com for not believing

Rarely does anyone remember what happened in a distance prelim, but Paul Chelimo has a history of drama in prelims and today he did not disappoint.

The good news for American distance fans is Chelimo looked like a medal contender after a string of mostly mediocre results in 2019.

Chelimo fell in the prelims two years ago and still advanced and was DQ’d from his prelim at World Indoors last year. Today he lost his shoe when Filip Ingebrigtsen stepped on his heel on the seventh or eighth lap, but Chelimo ran the final mile flawlessly. He outkicked everyone over the final 200m for the heat win, then extended his arms in celebration across the finish line. Paul Chelimo, World Championship contender, was back.

Chelimo didn’t even try to find the shoe after the race (he came through the mixed zone with one shoe) and when asked if his foot was bloody, he shook off the question.

“This is a tire man,” Chelimo said, gesturing toward his foot. “I’m good.”

Chelimo will need his foot to be feeling good for Monday’s final, as he hasn’t been in great form this year (by his lofty standards). But after losing to Lopez Lomong at USAs and finishing just 8th in the Diamond League final, Chelimo hasn’t lost any swagger. When asked if he was back to his old self in Doha, he called LetsRun out for our lack of faith (as he has done before).

LetsRun you never believe in me,” Chelimo said. “So today I showed you. Wait for it, the final and you will see.”

Then when asked who was the favorite in the final, Chelimo didn’t hesitate.

Article continues below player.

“You know the answer. It’s Paul Chelimo.”

Quick Take: Ben True says that he only extended his season after USAs so that he could earn healthcare for 2020 through USOC

True has been battling injuries to both of his Achilles in 2019, which he felt robbed him off of his closing speed. It showed today as he was 8th in heat 1 and missed out on a time qualifier by less than a second.

The injuries caused True to miss five weeks of workouts before USAs and two weeks of running after USAs. It was so bad that he would occasionally tear up while jogging.

But even though True was not 100% healthy, he decided to run some races after USAs so that he could earn health insurance for 2020 through the USOC (they cover it for athletes in the top 20 of the IAAF’s World Rankings). So when True got the call that Drew Hunter had scratched, he was still training and decided to extend his season. 

True had to be ranked in the top 20 by the end of Worlds (he entered ranked 15th) so he should be okay, but he appreciates the irony of racing through injury in order to qualify for health insurance.

“I’m rooming with Andy Bayer here, and he’s like, ‘it’s kind of ironic what you’re doing there,’” True said.

Justyn Knight interview

Knight said that he spent eight minutes waiting to find out about his status and praying that he’d earned a time qualifier after finishing 9th in heat 2. His prayers were answered: he’ll be in the final on Monday.

Moh Ahmed interview

The Ingebrigtsens didn’t stop in the mixed zone, but expressed confidence (though Henrik limped through mixed zone)

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