The men's 5000 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in two rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on 7 and 10 August 2024. This was the 26th time that the men's 5000 metres was contested at the Summer Olympics. A total of 43 athletes were able to qualify for the event by entry standard or ranking.
Summary
The field
Since he started with the adults as an 18 year old in 2019, serious 5000 runners have had their fortunes affected by Jakob Ingebrigtsen's success in the 1500. He has always signed up for the double at the major championships, but the 1500 is his priority. He finished fourth in the 1500 in 2019 and also ran the 5000, finishing fifth. Muktar Edris, Selemon Barega and Mohammed Ahmed won the medals finishing about 2 seconds ahead of the kid. Only Ahmed is here from that podium. Two years later, Ingebrigtsen won the 1500. With mission accomplished, he dropped out of the 5000. Joshua Cheptegei returns as defending champion as well as world record holder. Ahmed returns as silver medalist and bronze medalist Paul Chelimo didn't make it out of the US Trials. In 2022, Ingebrigtsen was beaten in the 1500 by Jake Wightman. With something to prove, he ran the 5000, the other runners had to follow in his wake. Jacob Krop and Oscar Chelimo took silver and bronze 7 metres behind Ingebrigtsen. Again in 2023, he lost the 1500 to Josh Kerr. Ingebrigtsen doesn't show his anger, he just makes the other 5000 runners suffer, chasing after the other medals. In the 5000, he was joined by fellow jilted 1500 runner Mohamed Katir. Ingebrigtsen had to make a determined sprint to beat Katir as the two speedsters blew away the other contenders on the final lap by 10 metres. Katir won't return due to a drug "whereabouts" suspension. Krop got the Bronze medal. So here in 2024, Ingebrigtsen didn't even get a medal in his primary event and the most anticipated duel at these Olympics where both he and Kerr were surprised by the closing speed of Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse.
Two fast races happened during the 2024 season, the first at the Los Angeles Grand Prix, with Selemon Barega running 12:51.60 to lead 10 others under 13 minutes. Two weeks later at the Bislett Games, Hagos Gebrhiwet ran the world leader 12:36.73 ahead of 11 others under 13 minutes. Many of the top qualifiers for this race ran in those two races.[2]
The Heats
There were two semi-final races to cut the field down to 16 finalists, the top 8 from each race. Putting 20 guys on the track, all running about a minute slower than their ability, proved to be a trouble. In the first heat, there were multiple small stumbles as the tightly packed runners clipped each other, then just over a lap before the finish, the only returning medalist, Ahmed went down to the track. By the time he got to his feet, there was no chance he could catch the front of the pack sprinting away from him. A few stumbles later on the final lap, inspired Narve Gilje Nordås to sprint around the pack to the front. As they all jockeyed for position for the finish in a rush, George Mills first made contact with Jimmy Gressier, then made contact with a falling Dominic Lobalu as he lost his balance away from Gressier falling to the track in front of Thierry Ndikumwenayo then Mike Foppen fell over him and did a protective summersault onto the track. With bodies everywhere, all the runners behind had to take evasive action, Stewie McSweyn stepping onto the infield, doing a tip toe act when he should be sprinting. All of the athletes who fell walked across the finish line except Ndikumwenayo who walked off the track to look at his road rash from the crash. Thomas Fafard, who was behind McSweyn just before the crash, hurdled the bodies and was able to qualify.[3] Then the second heat ran with only 19 on the track. And again, in almost the same place at the start of the straightaway, when a dozen runners were queuing up to sprint for home, it happened again. Abdi Nur was running in fourth place since the bell, positioned on Biniam Mehary's shoulder to kick for home. Birhanu Balew was on the inside passing Grant Fisher and about to step to the outside to go around Isaac Kimeli, next to Nur. Suddenly Nur was on the track doing a backward somersault with his feet flying in the air, Yann Schrub stumbled to his right. Balew staggered but finished.[4]
The Final
After all the falling and interfering, the referee advanced Lobalu, Mills, Foppen and Ndikumwenayo to the final. Later a Jury of Appeals advanced McSweyn and Schrub. The final would now have 22 starters, Nur and Ahmed would not be among them.[5] As the final started Dominic Lobalu found his way to the front. Ingebrigtsen didn't go all the way to the back but found a comfortable place near the middle, on the rail. After a couple of laps, Ndikumwenayo took over the lead. The normally aggressive Ethiopians and Kenyan teams chose a different tactic, rather than running as a group, Gebrhiwet and Ronald Kwemoi were at the back of the pack. Lobalu took another lap at the front then Ndikumwenayo took another. After they reached the half way point, Ingebrigtsen decided he wanted to be running closer to the front. His movement rippled through every other athlete who was watching Ingebrigtsen as they scrambled toward the front. 22 guys can't all be near the front. As the deck was reshuffled, Mills had a few moments in the sun, Biniam Mehary hit the front, with Addisu Yihune right behind him as the laps were getting quicker. After two laps, the teammates switched leading duties, Yihune now pushing the pace. With the accelerated pace, more athletes began to fall off the back. Ingebrigtsen was third on the rail, behind Fisher and Yihune, Mehary and John Heymans on the outside, with everyone who could keep up watching for who would make the first move. With 600 metres to go, it was Gebrhiwet, who slid along the field, past his teammates and into the lead. But he didn't just stop there, he opened up a 5 metre lead going onto the home stretch. At 550 to go, Ingebrigtsen reacted, sidestepping in front of Lobalu to his outside, going around the other Ethiopians, casting a side glance at a straining Mehary and into the gap. Ingebrigtsen was still 4 metres back at the bell. The Ethiopians have believed if they can be in the lead at the bell, they will win. It worked in the 2017 and 2019 World Championships for Muktar Edris, before that, it never worked until 2017 against Mo Farah or since against Ingebrigtsen, but here Gebrhiwet had executed it perfectly. Aside from the reaction from Ingebrigtsen and the other two Ethiopians he just passed, the rest of the field had at least an 8 metre deficit to Gebrhiwet with less than 400 metres to go. Through the turn, Kwemoi was the first to chase after Ingebrigtsen, followed by Edwin Kurgat, Lobalu, Isaac Kimeli and finally Fisher. Gebrhiwet had maxed out and was slowing down. Ingebrigtsen was just getting rolling. It took until almost the 200 meter mark before Ingebrigtsen passed Gebrhiwet, with Mehary following Ingebrigtsen to close down the gap. Ingebrigtsen wasn't coming back. He just expanded his lead to the finish line, winning gold by 10 metres. Kwemoi passed the last of the Ethiopian pair, now Mehary was ahead, with 120 metres to go. Kwemoi set off in the futile mission to run down Ingebrigtsen. Behind him, the sprint to the finish was on. It was three wide as Gebrhiwet passed Mehary while Lobalu was queuing up to pass both of them. No, four wide as Fisher, coming from even further back, was running faster than all of them. Fisher passed all three between the last 20 to 10 metres and got within a half a metre of Kwemoi at the finish line.[6]
For the men's 5000 metres event, the qualification period is between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.[10] 43 athletes are able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 13:05.00 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.[10]
Results
Round 1
Round 1 is scheduled to be held on 7 August, starting at 11:10 (UTC+2) in the morning.[1]
