The women's 5000 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 30 July and 2 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 45 athletes competed; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 42 qualifying through time or ranking (1 universality place was used in 2016).

Summary Sifan Hassan had already announced her intention to attempt to win the 1500, 5000, and 10,000 metres triple at the Olympics. Prior to the Olympics, she had won the 1500 and 10,000 metres at the World Championships. Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya had won the previous 5000 metres at the 2016 Olympics, but did not compete in the 2020 Olympics. Hellen Obiri, also of Kenya, was second in Rio and had won the 5000 metres at the 2019 World Championships

Earlier in the day, during the qualifying heat for the 1500 metres, Hassan suffered a fall but was able to continue, winning her heat to qualify for the semi-finals. The race started off slowly, with Elise Cranny taking an early lead as Hassan dropped to the back of the pack. Wanting a faster pace, Ririka Hironaka ran around the pack and assumed the lead. Over the next three laps, the pack let Hironaka breakaway to as much as a 10 metre lead. Then the Kenyan trio of Hellen Obiri, Agnes Jebet Tirop, and Lilian Kasait Rengeruk; the Ethiopian trio of Gudaf Tsegay, Senbere Teferi, and Ejgayehu Taye; and Kenyan-born Turkish athlete Yasemin Can moved forward.

With three laps to go, the lead group accelerated, with Hassan moving up from her position at the rear of the race to the back of the lead group. With Rengeruk falling off, the lead group consisted of the three Ethiopians, two Kenyans, Can, and Hassan. On the penultimate lap, Hassan moved up a further two positions, as Can and Teferi could not match the pace of the lead group All the leaders strived to be first at the bell, going four wide across the track, followed by Hassan.

At the start of the final lap Hassan moved to the outside, and began increasing her pace to pass the runners in front of her; Tirop, Taye, and Tsegay were passed during the turn, and finally mid-backstretch she passed the leader Obiri who went into full sprint to try to hold her off. It didn't match Hassan's speed, and Hassan carried the lead going into the final turn. Coming out of the final turn, Hassan accelerated again, opening up a 12 metre gap down the final straight, winning gold with a time 14:36.79. Obiri finished second some 1.57 seconds behind; 14:38.36, Tsegay completed the podium in third finishing in 14:38.87. It was Obiri's second straight silver.

Background This was the seventh time the event was held, having appeared at every Olympics since 1996.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the women's 5000 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 15:10.00. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 42 is reached.

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both indoor and outdoor meets were eligible for qualifying. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 5000 metres.

Competition format The event continued to use the two-round format introduced in 2012.

Records Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows.

Area Time (s) Athlete Nation Africa 14:06.62 Letesenbet Gidey Asia 14:28.09 Jiang Bo Europe 14:22.12 Sifan Hassan North, Central America and Caribbean 14:23.92 Shelby Houlihan Oceania 14:39.89 Kim Smith South America 15:18.85 Simone Alves da Silva

The following national records were established during the competition: Nation Athlete Round Time Notes Israel Selamawit Teferi Round 1 14:53.43 Mexico Laura Galván Round 1 15:00.16 Japan Ririka Hironaka Final 14:52.84

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The women's 5000 metres took place over two separate days.

Date Time Round Friday, 30 July 2021 19:00 Round 1 Monday, 2 August 2021 19:00 Final

Results Round 1 Qualification Rules: First 5 in each heat (Q) and the next 5 fastest (q) advance to the Final.

Heat 1 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes1 Sifan Hassan 14:47.892 Agnes Jebet Tirop 14:48.01, 3 Senbere Teferi 14:48.314 Ejgayehu Taye 14:48.525 Lilian Kasait Rengeruk 14:50.36, 6 Yasemin Can 14:50.92q7 Karissa Schweizer 14:51.34q, 8 Selamawit Teferi 14:53.43q, 9 Ririka Hironaka 14:55.87q, 10 Andrea Seccafien 14:59.55q11 Laura Galván 15:00.1612 Kaede Hagitani 15:04.9513 Jessica Judd 15:09.4714 Camille Buscomb 15:24.3915 Prisca Chesang 15:25.7216 Lucía Rodríguez 15:26.1917 Julie-Anne Staehli 15:33.3918 Rose Davies 15:50.0719 Sarah Chelangat 15:59.40

Heat 2 RankAthleteNationTimeNotes1 Gudaf Tsegay 14:55.742 Hellen Obiri 14:55.773 Nadia Battocletti 14:55.83, 4 Elise Cranny 14:56.14, 5 Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal 14:56.826 Nozomi Tanaka 14:59.937 Rachel Schneider 15:00.078 Rahel Daniel 15:02.599 Amy-Eloise Markovc 15:03.2210 Eilish McColgan 15:09.6811 Jenny Blundell 15:11.2712 Esther Chebet 15:11.4713 Dominique Scott 15:13.9414 Kate van Buskirk 15:14.9615 Isobel Batt-Doyle 15:21.6516 Diane van Es 15:47.0117 Marthe Yankurije 15:55.94 – Francine Niyonsaba – Klara Lukan

Final RankAthleteNationTimeNotes Sifan Hassan 14:36.79 Hellen Obiri 14:38.36 Gudaf Tsegay 14:38.874 Agnes Jebet Tirop 14:39.625 Ejgayehu Taye 14:41.246 Senbere Teferi 14:45.117 Nadia Battocletti 14:46.298 Yasemin Can 14:46.499 Ririka Hironaka 14:52.8410 Selamawit Teferi 14:54.3911 Karissa Schweizer 14:55.8012 Lilian Kasait Rengeruk 14:55.8513 Elise Cranny 14:55.9814 Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal 15:09.3715 Andrea Seccafien 15:12.09

References