Juan Carlos de la Ossa of Spain wins the men's 5000m in Florence's European Cup (© Getty Images)
Juan Carlos de la Ossa recorded an excellent 27:28.31 performance to take the Spanish 10,000m title which was at stake last night (12 July) in the northwest Spanish city of Vigo.
In doing so the 31-year-old reigning European bronze medallist for the distance came barely half a second outside his lifetime best of 27:27.80 set back in 2005 and will likely tackle the Beijing Olympics as the fastest European athlete. The race was held under nearly optimal weather conditions of 18ºC and little wind.
Behind De la Ossa there were another two Spaniards who managed the ‘A’ qualifying standard, Carlos Castillejo in a massive PB of 27:39.79 and last year’s champion Ayad Lamdassem, also in a career best of 27:45.58.
Rarely the pacesetter holds a better PB than the marquee athlete but that was the case yesterday as Kenya’s Silas Kipruto – a recent 27:26.31 performer for eighth in Hengelo last May – was the athlete in charge of the pacemaking duties. The 24-year-old Kenyan ran a slow opening kilometre in 2:49.4 but soon injected a brisker pace in the 2:43-2:45 range to go through the 5000m point in 13:48.2 with De la Ossa, Castillejo and Moroccan-born Lamdassem still in close attendance.
The seventh kilo marked a turning point as the latter two simply could not live with Kipruto’s pace and lost gradually ground. The Kenyan’s job was fantastic as he led De la Ossa until the 8200 point and so the three-time European Cross Country silver medallist only had to run lonesome for the closing 1800m.
“I’m extremely satisfied with my result as last weekend I suffered some discomfort while doing a classy training session on the track and decided to stop as a precautionary measure,” commented an ecstatic De la Ossa.
“Kipruto has made a superb job as a pacemaker, I’m grateful to him. I’m also happy because Spain will send a quality triumvirate to the Olympics after last year’s disappointment when none of us was present at the Osaka Worlds.”
Asked on his aspirations in Beijing he answered: “Let’s see how my build-up develops until the Olympics but I believe that a top-six place might be within reach”.
Is Bekele your overwhelming favourite to take Olympic gold? “It’s true that he should be the man to beat but I think that Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese (who famously outclashed the Ethiopian legend to take the 2007 Word Cross Country title in style) is capable of giving Bekele a scare should the race go fast from the very beginning….Apart from them, Sileshi Sihine seems to be in excellent shape after his recent 5000m success in Rome” explained De la Ossa, who had already got the qualifying standard in the 5000m event thanks to a 13:14.91 time in Jerez last 24 June.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
