HE DOESN’T TAKE LOSING very well. Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s silver in the 1500 marked the third time he had failed to get a World gold. The 21-year-old Norwegian channeled that frustration into a winning effort over 5000m, much to the consternation of his rivals.
The heats advanced all the likely suspects. Ugandan Oscar Chelimo led the first in 13:24.24. Kenyan Jacob Krop led the second in 13:13.30, just ahead of Ingebrigtsen (13:13.92). Among the Americans, only Woody Kincaid missed, after falling and then kicking his way back only to fall short by less than half a second at 13:25.02.
The finals fell 3 days later on the last evening of the meet. With temps in the high 80s (31C), officials placed a water table on the backstretch. Despite the heat, favored Joshua Cheptegei led through a solid first K at 2:36.59, with Guatemala’s Luis Grijalva, Krop and top American Grant Fisher all staying close.
The Kenyans then moved to the front, Krop, world leader Nicholas Kipkorir and Daniel Simiyu rotating positions and slowing things down a bit to cover the next kilo in 2:41.20. On the sixth lap, Ingebrigtsen made a statement of sorts — or maybe he was just thirsty — rolling out to lane 5 and grabbing a drink of water, while exhorting the crowd to cheer. He did it again a lap later, then scooted to Kipkorir’s shoulder in his first foray to the front.
Kipkorir still led at 3K (8:04.50), with all 15 still in the tight pack. Grijalva ran 2nd, just ahead of Ingebrigtsen, Krop and Fisher. Only 2 lost contact over the next kilo as Krop led at 10:46.05. That’s when the Olympic 1500 champ finally took over. He covered the next lap in 60.13, with Krop coming back to challenge. At the bell, the two ran side-by-side, with Fisher in 3rd. Kipkorir and Canada’s Moh Ahmed tried to gain traction on the backstretch, but the top 3 kept accelerating.
With 200 to go, there was still a 9-runner pack all within a second, and the crowd noise grew exponentially as U.S. fans saw that Fisher looked very strong in 3rd. All he would need to do is come off the turn in good shape and a medal could happen.
But the Stanford alum, running close to the rail, started moving to the inside of Krop. The Kenyan cut in, their legs made contact, and the American came close to falling as he was forced into the rail. While Ingebrigtsen and Krop sprinted, Fisher struggled to regain momentum and watched Chelimo go by, followed by Grijalva and Ahmed.
Up front, Ingebrigtsen again solicited cheers from the crowd as he took the gold in 13:09.24, covering his last lap in 53.93. Krop held on for silver in 13:09.98, with Chelimo bronze in 13:10.20. A dispirited Fisher finished 6th in 13:11.65. The final’s other American, Abdihamid Nur, crossed 11th in 13:18.05.
It was a tough day for favorites, as world leader Kipkorir faded to 7th (13:11.97) and WR holder Cheptegei was 9th (13:13.12), obviously not recovered from his 10,000 win.
Said the victor, “Finally, I became a world champion. It has been very difficult since the 1500. I have been very, very disappointed even though I got the silver medal. But today, I felt very good. I knew I would not get beaten by the others in the last laps.”
Fisher said, “I wanted to give everything I had that last 100 and got a little tangled in there. Just got squeezed into the rail. It all happened so fast. I’m pretty disappointed.”
MEN’S 5000 RESULTS
FINAL (July 24)
(temperature 88F/31C; humidity 40%)
1. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Nor) 13:09.24
(2:37.96, 2:41.03 [5:18.99], 2:45.77 [8:04.76], 2:41.34 [10:46.10], 2:23.14)
(13.52, 26.68, 53.93, 1:52.78, 3:59.43);
2. Jacob Kiprop (Ken) 13:09.98
(13.68, 27.40, 54.67, 1:53.36, 4:00.43);
3. Oscar Chelimo (Uga) 13:10.20
(13.26, 27.12, 54.16, 1:52.42, 3:59.80);
4. Luis Grijalva (Gua) 13:10.44
(13.17, 27.10, 54.63, 1:53.72, 4:00.88);
5. Moh Ahmed (Can) 13:10.46
(14.01, 27.59, 54.84, 1:53.59, 4:00.56);
6. Grant Fisher (US) 13:11.65
(15.05, 29.05, 56.23, 1:55.05, 4:01.93);
7. Nicholas Kipkorir (Ken) 13:11.97
(15.01, 29.16, 56.55, 1:55.39, 4:02.27);
8. Yomif Kejelcha (Eth) 13:12.09
(14.94, 29.03, 56.32, 1:55.14, 4:01.86);
9. Joshua Cheptegei (Uga) 13:13.12;
10. Daniel Simiyu (Ken) 13:16.64;
11. Abdihamid Nur (US) 13:18.05
(13.30, 28.81, 59.62, 1:59.71, 4:08.00);
12. Selemon Barega (Eth) 13:19.62;
13. Muktar Edris (Eth) 13:24.67;
14. Marc Scott (GB) 13:41.04;
15. Sam Parsons (Ger) 13:45.89.
(leader kilos: Cheptegei 2:36.59; Kipkorir 5:17.79, 8:04.50; Kiprop 10:46.05)
HEATS (July 21)
I–1. Chelimo 13:24.24; 2. Fisher 13:24.44; 3. Barega 13:24.44; 4. Cheptegei 13:24.47; 5. Nur 13:24.48; 6. Kipkorir 13:24.56; 7. Telahun Haile (Eth) 13:24.77; 8. Ky Robinson (Aus) 13:27.03; 9. Andrew Butchart (GB) 13:31.26; 10. Sam Atkin (GB) 13:34.36; 11. Adel Mechaal (Spa) 13:36.48; 12. Geordie Beamish (NZ) 13:36.86; 13. Narve Gilje Nordås (Nor) 13:37.14; 14. Soufiyan Bouqantar (Mor) 13:37.69; 15. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot (Can) 13:38.80; 16. Maximilian Thorwirth (Ger) 13:43.02; 17. Altobelli da Silva (Bra) 13:43.80; 18. Adrian Wildschutt (SA) 13:44.32; 19. Mohamed Mohumed (Ger) 13:52.00; 20. Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed (Sud) 14:02.79; 21. Nursultan Keneshbekov (Kir) 14:15.59.
II–1. Kiprop 13:13.30; 2. Ingebrigtsen 13:13.92; 3. Grijalva 13:14.04; 4. Kejelcha 13:14.87; 5. Ahmed 13:15.17; 6. Simiyu 13:15.17; 7. Edris 13:21.19; 8. Scott 13:22.54; 9. Parsons 13:24.50; 10. Merhawi Mebrahtu (Eri) 13:24.89; 11. Woody Kincaid (US) 13:25.02; 12. Hamish Carson (NZ) 13:37.62; 13. Hyuga Endo (Jpn) 13:47.07; 14. Peter Maru (Uga) 13:47.65; 15. Precious Mashele (SA) 13:52.37; 16. Matthew Ramsden (Aus) 13:52.90; 17. Hicham Akankam (Mor) 14:05.11; 18. Yaseen Abdalla (Sud) 14:15.59; 19. Kieran Tuntivate (Tha) 14:19.28; 20. Jethro Saint-Fleur (Aru) 16:04.46 PR.
