2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics were held at the Olympic Stadium on 20 and 23 AugustMen's 5000 Metres results

Medalists GoldSilverBronzeKenenisa Bekele Bernard LagatJames Kwalia C'Kurui

Summary In hindsight, this race was the confluence of many top athletes. Kenenisa Bekele was already the world record holder, the Woolworth double (5 and 10) Olympic champion and the champion at 10,000 here. At 27, this would be his last successful major championship race. At 35, Bernard Lagat (a Kenyan transplant to USA) would continue to medal internationally for another 5 years. Lagat was the defending champion and was the second fastest 1500 runner of all time. Eliud Kipchoge had the championship record from 2003 and would go on to greater fame in marathon running, winning the Olympic gold medal in 2016 and 2021. And setting the official world record in 2018 and the assisted world record in 2019. A lesser known British runner named Mo Farah was making his first World Championship final after disappointment in the 2008 Olympics. Two years later, he would go on to start a 6 year long major championship winning streak that would encompass two Olympics and four World Championships in both the 5 and 10.

With the mixture of strength runners like Bekele and Kipchoge, and kickers like Lagat and Farah, the strategy was a question mark. Could the strength runners burn off the kickers? Bekele started fast, and most of the field followed along in tow. Farah lagged 15 metres behind, 100 metres into the race. University of Wisconsin teammates Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky marked Bekele as the pace slowed at first. Bekele led with an uneven pace, running as fast as 60 seconds a lap and as slow as 64. Everybody else followed for 2300 metres until the Kenyan team, led by Joseph Ebuya all moved to the front as much to assert an even pace if not a fast pace. Bekele moved back to control the race, marked by Lagat, Kipchoge, Moses Ndiema Kipsiro and Kenyan transplant to Qatar, James Kwalia C'Kurui. Just under 800 metres to go, Ebuya stepped to the right and gave up. After coming to a virtual stop he jogged and rejoined the race well out of contention. The same five leaders remained together at the bell with Jesús España sprinting up to be in short lived contention. As they sped around the turn and into the backstretch, those five separated from the chasers. With España fading, Tegenkamp was the last left trying to bridge the gap. Bekele held the lead through the final turn, with Lagat moving into position to put his move on. Coming off the turn, Lagat pounced and took the lead, but only by inches. Side by side, Bekele on the inside and Lagat on the outside, the two sprinted shoulder to shoulder for 40 metres, then Bekele edged in front, slowly widening the gap for a little over a metre by the finish. Behind them Kwalia emerged from the group to take the bronze.

Records World record12:37.35Hengelo, Netherlands31 May 2004Championship record12:52.79Paris, France31 August 2003World leading12:56.23Rome, Italy10 July 2009African record12:37.35Hengelo, Netherlands31 May 2004Asian record12:51.98Rome, Italy14 July 2006North American record12:58.21Zürich, Switzerland14 August 1996South American record13:19.43Kassel, Germany8 June 2006European record12:49.71Brussels, Belgium25 August 2000Oceanian record12:55.76London, Great Britain30 July 2004

Qualification standards A timeB time 13:20.00 13:29.00

Schedule Date Time Round20 August 2009 18:55 Heats23 August 2009 16:25 Final

Results

Heats Qualification: First 5 in each heat(Q) and the next 5 fastest(q) advance to the final. Rank Heat Name Nationality Time Notes 1 Kenenisa Bekele 13:19.77 Q 1 Matt Tegenkamp 13:19.87 Q 1 Mo Farah 13:19.94 Q 1 Vincent Kiprop Chepkok 13:20.24 Q 1 Jesús España 13:20.40 Q 1 Chris Solinsky 13:20.64 q 1 Joseph Ebuya 13:22.41 q 1 Anis Selmouni 13:22.95 q 2 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro 13:22.98 Q, SB 10 2 Eliud Kipchoge 13:23.34 Q 11 1 Teklemariam Medhin 13:23.48 q 12 1 Collis Birmingham 13:23.48 q 13 2 James Kwalia C'Kurui 13:23.57 Q 14 2 Bernard Lagat 13:23.73 Q 15 2 Chakir Boujattaoui 13:23.83 Q 16 2 Bekana Daba 13:23.86 17 1 Saif Saaeed Shaheen 13:26.35 18 2 Samuel Tsegay 13:26.78 19 1 Geofrey Kusuro 13:28.48 SB 20 2 Morhad Amdouni 13:29.64 21 2 Kidane Tadasse 13:30.85 22 2 Alemayehu Bezabeh 13:33.52 23 1 Ali Abdosh 13:36.52 q 24 1 Daniele Meucci 13:37.79 25 2 Evan Jager 13:39.80 26 2 Hussain Jamaan Alhamdah 13:44.59 27 2 Alistair Cragg 13:46.34 28 2 Arne Gabius 13:49.13 29 2 Moses Kibet 13:52.38 30 2 Sergio Sánchez 13:53.51 31 2 Marco Joseph 13:53.67 32 2 Tonny Wamulwa 14:01.67 SB 33 1 Etienne Bizimana 14:06.02 PB 34 1 Yuichiro Ueno 14:30.76 35 2 Mohamed Ali Mohamed 14:34.62 PB 36 2 Omar Abusaid 15:14.88 PB 1 Byron Piedra 1 Juan Luis Barrios 1 Fabiano Joseph Naasi

Key: PB = Personal best, SB = Seasonal best

Final

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes Kenenisa Bekele 13:17.09 Bernard Lagat 13:17.33 James Kwalia C'Kurui 13:17.78 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro 13:18.11 SB Eliud Kipchoge 13:18.95 Ali Abdosh 13:19.11 Mo Farah 13:19.69 Matthew Tegenkamp 13:20.23 Vincent Kiprop Chepkok 13:21.31 10 Jesús España 13:22.07 11 Chakir Boujattaoui 13:23.05 12 Chris Solinsky 13:25.87 13 Joseph Ebuya 13:39.59 14 Anis Selmouni 13:44.59 15 Teklemariam Medhin 13:44.65 16 Collis Birmingham 13:55.58

Key: SB = Seasonal best

Splits Intermediate Athlete Country Mark 1000m Kenenisa Bekele 2:54.35 2000m Kenenisa Bekele 5:34.17 3000m Kenenisa Bekele 8:14.63 4000m Kenenisa Bekele 10:52.22

References General Specific