NORWEGIAN SUPERSTAR Jakob Ingebrigtsen bounced back from the gut punch of being run out of the 1500 medals 4 days earlier by taking 5000 gold.
At this distance the brash middle distance man matched his winning ways of Oregon ’22 and Budapest ’23 — after missing out on 1500 gold, as at those championships.
In a race that seemed tailor-made for his skill set, Ingebrigtsen turned in a final lap of 53.2 to cross the line in 13:13.66, with Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi 2nd in 13:15.04.
Behind the leading pair, the fast-finishing Grant Fisher was as quick as Ingebrigtsen down the home straight to take the bronze in 13:15.13 and become the first U.S. man to earn 5000 and 10K medals at the same Games.
The entire bloated 22-man field, the most ever in an Olympic final — with no fewer than 6 advanced to the final after falls in the heats — ticked off near-pedestrian splits of 2:49.63, 5:36.61, 8:17.47 through 3000. Despite a slightly quicker fourth kilo with the leaders going through in 10:51.97 there were still essentially 14 in contention with 2 laps to go.
Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune had been gradually winding up the pace from 4 laps out and pushed again before his compatriot Hagos Gebrhiwet, the Rio bronze medalist, pounced with 600 to go.
At the bell, Gebrhiwet had a 5-meter advantage, but Ingebrigtsen, who looked not to be having an easy time of it over the immediately preceding circuits, determinedly and cleverly clawed back the deficit over the next 200 and got on the tiring Ethiopian’s shoulder by the time the last bend loomed.
Ingebrigtsen then went through the gears and was unchallenged for gold with a devastating 26.5 last furlong.
“For me, the 5000m is over triple my usual distance, so it was a very tough race. With the level being so high, people are running so fast this year, I knew I had to be at my very best to be able to fight for medals,” said Ingebrigtsen, who won the 1500 in Tokyo 3 years ago but has not triumphed in a global championships at that distance since.
“I was a little bit of locked on the inside [with 600 to go]; it opened quite a big gap. I just tried to stay calm, went for it, I was able to catch up. Just an amazing feeling. The contrast in sports is unique. I got another shot [after being out of the 1500 medals], I just had to make the most of it.”
3:49-miler Kwemoi, in his first major champs as a 5000 competitor, won the 5-man battle down the homestraight for silver while Fisher showed off his improved finishing speed — having taken his 1500 PR to 3:34.90 this year. He moved up from 6th coming off the last bend to get another place on the podium.
“After the first medal I had nothing to lose,” he said. “It feels really good. I’ve been dreaming about a medal for so long. Sometimes it comes slowly, and then all at once.
“This Olympics, it came all at once.
“It’s really challenging to do that double. My legs are completely toast now, but it feels really, really good. The guys took off with like 600m to go. I just didn’t have the legs. My coach told me before to just be patient, it’ll open up, and it did. With 100 to go, I just gave it everything I had until the line.”
Harvard’s ’23 NCAA XC champion Graham Blanks, who got to Paris via the WA ranking system after finishing 4th at the OT, finished a very creditable 9th in 13:18.67.
MEN”S 5000 RESULTS
FINAL (August 10)
(temperature 84F/29C; humidity 40%)
1. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Nor) 13:13.66
(2:50.7, 2:47.6 [5:38.3], 2:40.0 [8:18.3], 2:34.3 [10:52.6], 2:21.0)
(13.2, 26.5, 40.0, 53.2);
2. Ronald Kwemoi (Ken) 13:15.04
(2:51.5, 2:47.7 [5:39.2], 2:40.4 [8:19.6], 2:33.5 [10:53.1], 2:21.9)
(13.8, 27.3, 40.7, 53.7);
3. Grant Fisher (US) 13:15.13
(2:50.3, 2:46.8 [5:37.1], 2:41.4 [8:18.5], 2:34.0 [10:52.5], 2:22.6)
(13.2, 26.4, 39.8, 53.5);
4. Dominic Lobalu (Swi) 13:15.27
(13.6, 27.0, 40.3, 53.7, 2:22.2);
5. Hagos Gebrhiwet (Eth) 13:15.32
(13.8, 27.9, 42.0, 55.6, 2:23.6);
6. Biniam Mehary (Eth) 13:15.99
(14.5, 28.5, 42.1, 55.4, 2:23.6);
7. Edwin Kurgat (Ken) 13:17.18
(14.8, 28.9, 42.5, 55.9, 2:24.4);
8. Isaac Kimeli (Bel) 13:18.10
(14.8, 29.2, 43.0, 56.3, 2:24.7);
9. Graham Blanks (US) 13:18.67
(13.5, 27.5, 41.8, 55.9, 2:25.6);
10. Jacob Krop (Ken) 13:18.68; 11. John Heymans (Bel) 13:19.25; 12. Yann Schrub (Fra) 13:20.63; 13. Mike Foppen (Neth) 13:21.56; 14. Addisu Yihune (Eth) 13:22.33; 15. Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spa) 13:24.07; 16. Hugo Hay (Fra) 13:26.71; 17. Narve Gilje Nordås (Nor) 13:31.34; 18. Stewart McSweyn (Aus) 13:31.38; 19. Seare Dawit (Eri) 13:31.50; 20. Oscar Chelimo (Uga) 13:31.56; 21. George Mills (GB) 13:32.32; 22. Thomas Fafard (Can) 13:49.69.
(kilo leaders: Ndikumwenayo 2:49.63; Lobalu 5:36.61; Mehary 8:17.47; Yihune 10:51.97)
HEATS (August 07)
I–1. Nordås 14:08.16; 2. Gebrhiwet 14:08.18; 3. Heymans 14:08.33; 4. Krop 14:08.73; 5. Kurgat 14:08.76; 6. Blanks 14:09.06; 7. Hay 14:09.22; 8. Fafard 14:09.37; 9. Jimmy Gressier (Fra) 14:09.95; 10. Egide Ntakarutimana (Bur) 14:11.29; 11. Abdi Waiss Mouhyadin (Dji) 14:11.88; 12. McSweyn 14:12.31; 13. Patrick Dever (GB) 14:13.48; 14. Elzan Bibić (Ser) 14:14.46; 15. Lokinyomo Lobalu 14:15.49; 16. Moh Ahmed (Can) 14:15.76; 17. Aron Kifle (Eri) 14:16.77; 18. Mills 14:37.08; 19. Foppen 14:37.34;… dnf—Ndikumwenayo. (McSweyn, Lobalu, Mills & Foppen advanced on appeal)
II–1. Ingebrigtsen 13:51.59; 2. Mehary 13:51.82; 3. Kimeli 13:52.18; 4. Fisher 13:52.44; 5. Chelimo 13:52.46; 6. Kwemoi 13:52.51; 7. Dawit 13:52.53; 8. Yihune 13:52.62; 9. Morgan McDonald (Aus) 13:52.67; 10. Birhanu Balew (Bhr) 13:53.11; 11. Schrub 13:53.27; 12. Jonas Raess (Swi) 13:55.04; 13. Brian Fay (Ire) 13:55.35; 14. Santiago Catrofe (Uru) 13:56.40; 15. Mohamed Ismail Ibrahim (Dji) 13:57.47; 16. Luis Grijalva (Gua) 13:58.81; 17. Ben Flanagan (Can) 13:59.23; 18. Sam Atkin (GB) 14:02.46; 19. Abdihamid Nur (US) 14:15.00. (Schrub advanced on appeal)