Paris Olympics preview: 10,000m

Women's 10,000m

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• World record-holder Beatrice Chebet making her Olympic debut
• Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay is a top challenger, but the 10,000m is just one of her three events
• Sifan Hassan will try to defend her Olympic title while competing in three events

Two months after Beatrice Chebet shattered the world 10,000m record, the question entering the Olympics is what the Kenyan could do for her encore.

With her world record of 28:54.14, Chebet became the first woman to break the 29-minute barrier, a feat made all the more impressive given she did not even enter May’s Prefontaine Classic expecting to challenge Letesenbet Gidey’s former record. Instead, the world-record attempt had been set up for Gudaf Tsegay – yet with three laps remaining and Tsegay falling behind world-record pace, Chebet sped ahead and smashed Gidey’s mark by more than six seconds.

On her Olympic debut in Paris, however, Chebet will be at the centre of attention, unable to surprise any more after her record run. Since breaking the record, Chebet has raced just once, at the Kenyan trials, in which she qualified for Paris in the 5000m, as well.

Based on this year’s performances, Tsegay remains her clear top challenger. The world record-holder at 5000m, Tsegay holds an advantage in her experience navigating to the top of the podium at global championships, having already claimed gold medals at the 2022 World Championships in the 5000m and a year later in Budapest in the 10,000m.

Her 29:05.92 in Eugene makes her history’s third-fastest performer, and no one else has run within 20 seconds of Tsegay this season, with Kenya’s Lilian Kasait Rengeruk owning the year’s next-fastest time in 29:26.89. Still, Tsegay will arrive at the starting line for the 10,000m after a heavy workload, as she is also entered in the 1500m and 5000m.

The final in Paris will also feature Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands as she attempts to complete an Olympic treble. The Olympic champion in Tokyo at 10,000m, Hassan is entered in the 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m and marathon, but has decided not to contest the shortest event. The 10,000m final takes place on 9 August and Hassan will have already run the 5000m by then before attempting her longest, as the marathon closes out the athletics portion of the Games on 11 August.

If her fitness is difficult to predict, so, too, is her potential in Paris. Though her personal best of 29:06.82 from 2021 makes her history’s fourth-fastest performer, Hassan has yet to run a 10,000m this season. Since 1988, when the Olympics held the women’s 10,000m for the first time, only Tirunesh Dibaba, in 2008 and 2012, has won consecutive Olympic gold medals.

In all, seven women have run under 30 minutes this year, including Kenya’s Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi (29:27.59) and Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay (29:47.71) and Tsigie Gebreselama (29:48.34).

 

Men's 10,000m

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• Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha owns the world-leading time of 26:31.01
• World record-holder Joshua Cheptegei will be making his season debut in the 10,000m
• USA’s Grant Fisher has edged closer to the podium at past championships; can he break through?

From Nurmi to Zatopek, Viren to Gebrselassie, Bekele to Farah, the history of the 10,000m has often been defined by a small number of athletes who have held control over the discipline for years.

Will history repeat itself in Paris, or will a new champion emerge?

Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega returns to defend his Olympic gold medal from Tokyo. Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, meanwhile, is the world record-holder, gold medallist at the 2019, 2022 and 2023 World Championships and Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo, and remains every bit a gold-medal contender.

And yet this is not a two-man race. The world’s season-leading time of 26:31.01 belongs to Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, with his compatriot Berihu Aregawi only one tenth of a second behind. It has made for an unpredictable outcome in a race where a favourite has often emerged well before the starting gun.

For Kejelcha, the Olympics are an opportunity to add a medal to his early promise. Eight years ago, at only 18 years old, Kejelcha claimed the gold medal at the 2016 World Indoor Championships, the first of his two consecutive indoor golds. He then earned silver at the 2019 World Championships. Paris, however, will mark his first Olympics, and he will have only the 10,000m as his focus, after he was not chosen for Ethiopia’s 5000m team.

With Kejelcha leading the way, Ethiopians have recorded the six fastest times in the world this year. It has created a subplot worth watching: not since Finland in 1936 has a single country swept the top three places in the men’s race.

Both of the presumptive favourites enter with significant question marks at the Olympics. As the standard-bearer for the event, Cheptegei has superior speed – his personal best is 20 seconds faster than Kejelcha’s, for example. Yet Cheptegei’s potential this season is unclear, as he has been selective with his competitions thus far.

He will be competing for the first time since 30 May, when he finished ninth in the 5000m at the Bislett Games. Though he did clock 26:53 on the roads on 16 March in Spain, Cheptegei has yet to race a 10,000m on the track this season. Barega, meanwhile, finished third at the Ethiopian trials on 14 June, behind Kejelcha and Aregawi.

Daniel Mateiko and world road 5km bronze medallist Nicholas Kipkorir are Kenya’s fastest qualifiers, with US duo Grant Fisher and Nico Young right behind.

Mateiko, winner of the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon earlier this year, smashed his 10,000m PB to win Kenya’s trial race in Eugene in May in 26:50.81. Kipkorir, who finished fourth over 5000m at the Tokyo Olympics, was a close second to Mateiko in Eugene.

This is Young’s Olympic debut and only his third 10,000m on a track. Fisher is more seasoned, and enters with plenty of global experience that has seen him gradually move closer to the podium. Is this the year he can break through and finish in the top three? Fisher finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics before improving to fourth at the 2022 World Championships.

Andrew Greif for World Athletics