Olympics 2024: Norwegian Ingebrigtsen shines in men’s 5000m, Chelimo sandwiched
The men’s 5000m final was one of the eagerly awaited races at Stade De France in Paris, France on Saturday evening. With the absence of Uganda’s duo Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo, alongside Selemon Barega and other established Ethiopians, the field belonged to Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen Ingebrigsten stormed through the final lap of the men’s […] The post Olympics 2024: Norwegian Ingebrigtsen shines in men’s 5000m, Chelimo sandwiched appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
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The men’s 5000m final was one of the eagerly awaited races at Stade De France in Paris, France on Saturday evening.
With the absence of Uganda’s duo Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo, alongside Selemon Barega and other established Ethiopians, the field belonged to Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Ingebrigsten stormed through the final lap of the men’s 5000m at a pace no one could match to win gold.
With a final lap of 53.2 seconds that included running the last 200m in 26.5, Ingebrigtsen won gold in a season’s best of 13:13.66, ahead of silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya (13:15.04) and Grant Fisher of the United States in 13:15.13.
It is the second consecutive Olympics in which Ingebrigtsen has earned a gold medal, joining his 1500m gold from Tokyo.
This is also the third consecutive global championship in which Ingebrigtsen has not won the 1500m but rebounded to claim victory at 5000m.
Ethiopia’s Biniam Mehary and Addisu Yihune were leading a 22-man final as late as 4400m when compatriot Hagos Gebrhiwet created a one-stride lead on the field with a sprint to the front.
Ingebrigtsen was one of the few who tried to immediately match the move and lurked in second as Gebrhiwet led entering the final lap.
The hard fighting Norwegian took the lead with 200 metres to go and glanced at the scoreboard while rounding the bend to gauge his lead.
Kwemoi came on strong and Fisher was next, improving from sixth to third in the final 80 metres.
Fisher is the first US man ever to earn medals in both the 5000m and 10,000m at a single Olympics.
As the lead pack came off the final turn “every few steps I realised, I’m getting closer, I’m getting closer,” Fisher said told World Athletics.
“With 100 to go, I looked up and thought, third isn’t that far away and I’m moving nicely.”
“It’s super validating. People say medals can’t be taken away and that’s the one thing that was missing.”
Great Britain’s George Mills, Mike Foppen of the Netherlands and Dominic Lobalu all were added to the final following a pile-up of bodies in the semifinal’s final 100m that left competitors tripping and falling over one another while jostling for position.
The unpredictability extended to another semifinal as well, when USA’s Abdihamid Nur fell on the home straight.
A jury of appeals later determined that Nur would not advance but Australia’s Stewart McSweyn and France’s Yann Schrub would.
The rulings created a super-sized final that included 22 men.
In the final, Lobalu finished fourth, in 13:15.27. After leading for stretches of the final Gebrhiwet finished fifth, Mehary in sixth and Yihune in 14th.
Jacob Krop (Kenya) produced a seasonal best time of 13:18.68, finishing 10th overall whilst another seasonal best came from Frenchman Hugo Hay (13:26.71) in the 16th position.
Uganda’s lone representative in this race Oscar Chelimo completed the race in the 20th position with 13:31.56.
The 5000m men medal ceremony was officiated by IOC William Blick.
The post Olympics 2024: Norwegian Ingebrigtsen shines in men’s 5000m, Chelimo sandwiched appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
