2004 – Long Distance Review

In the third installment of their eight edition review of the highlights of the 2004 Athletics year, A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava browse over the long distance running events.

MEN – Long Distance

5000m
In the mid 1990’s we were spoiled by a steady flow of new long distance World records thanks mainly to Haile Gebrselassie but since he ran his 12:39 in 1998 no one – Haile himself included – has been really challenging that mark, with the closest margin being almost ten seconds away (Stephen Cherono 12:48 in 2003). It appeared that the 12:39.36 was an exceptional performance by an exceptional athlete that might stand for a very long time.

Then along came Haile’s countryman Kenenisa Bekele and suddenly the record looked vulnerable. The first ominous sign appeared last February in Birmingham when he ran a seemingly effortless 12:49 to relieve his role model of the indoor 5000m World record set at the same arena five years earlier. So when Bekele lined up in Hengelo on 31 May everybody knew that the outdoor World record probably wouldn’t survive.

And it didn’t. Despite running alone for a major part of the race and winning by almost half a minute, Bekele completed his mission by 12:37.35 lowering the old 5000m record by two full seconds.

Last year we wrote: “Ethiopia returned “in full force” to the event after a couple of - by their elevated standards - mediocre years at 5000m. Not only did the “Great Gebrselassie” himself rejoin track running after searching for marathon success for a couple of years but also there was a group of precocious youngsters who were not even afraid to challenge the legend himself.”

This trend certainly continued in 2004, with the “young Ethiopians” now dominating the world lists after further improvements: 1 Kenenisa Bekele 12:37.35 (last year 12:52.26); 3 Sileshi Sihine 12:47.04 (13:06.53); 4 Berhanu Dejene 12:54.15 (13:14.05); 5 Haile Gebrselassie 12:55.51 (12:54.36); 6 Gebre Gebremariam 12:55.59 (12:58.08); 9 Mulugeta Wondimu 12:57.05 (13:26.73)

Except for “the Veteran” they were all born in the 1980’s and their average improvement this year was 17 seconds!

However, although this group of Ethiopian youngsters in 2004 replaced Kenya as the dominant nation at the very top of the world list (in 2003 there were 7 Kenyans, 2 Ethiopians and 1 Moroccan in the top-10 – this year the score was Ethiopia 6, Kenya 2, Australia and Morocco 1 each) they can’t expect to have the event all to themselves in years to come.

Kenya also has some young runners with apparently exciting futures. Eliud Kipchoge – the 2003 World champion – handled Sihine, Dejene and Gebremariam in the Rome Golden League race with his winning 12:46, and in the Berlin Golden League Augustine Choge – the 2003 World Youth Champion at 3000m – won a sprint finish over Wondimu in 12:57.

And then of course there is always the “risk” that some 1500m runner tries his luck at the 5000m in the major championships, hoping for a slow-paced race which is decided in the last lap sprint. Like happened this year when the long distance specialists forgot to use their strength advantage to keep the pace fast all the way. Thereby they more or less handed the Olympic final to Hicham El Guerrouj, whose winning 13:14 puts him 44th place on the world list for 2004 almost forty seconds from the top.

Of course we don’t know how El Guerrouj would have managed to handle the situation if the race had been run at say 12:50-pace – he might have won anyway – but what is for sure is that he got it perfectly set up for him without even having to worry.

10,000m
The modern pattern has been that the international 10,000m year consists of three major races: Hengelo in early summer, the major championship in early August, and then Brussels in the late summer. However, this year there was an addition: As Kenenisa Bekele would be using Hengelo for an attempt on the 5000m record he needed another meet for attacking the 10,000m World record about a week later.

This need was fulfilled by Ostrava which added the event to their “Golden Spike” meet on 8 June, and Bekele didn’t disappoint those hoping for a new record. By running 26:20.31 he won by more than half a minute and snatched also this World record from Haile Gebrselassie, whose 26:22 was set in Hengelo six years earlier.

Despite the lack of Bekele, the Hengelo 10,000m this year still provided brilliant Ethiopian performances: Sileshi Sihine's 26:39 defeating Gebreselassie by two seconds.

As for the Olympics it was not quite as brilliant as the World Championships in Paris the year before, but it still was memorable. Especially Bekele’s blistering last lap of 53.0 after relaxing somewhat at the end (halves of 25.7 and 27.3)! The Ethiopian hopes for another sweep were crushed when Gebrselassie – hampered by an Achilles injury – had to let go in the last couple of kilometres finishing 5th some twenty seconds behind the new 10,000m king.

The event was once more dominated by East African runners as Bekele and Sihine were followed by Zersenay Tadesse (Eritrea’s first ever medal in a worldwide athletics championship), Boniface Kiprop (Uganda), Gebrselassie, John Korir (Kenya) and Moses Mosop (Kenya).

Their domination was even stronger statistically as runners born in East Africa make up the top-21 in the year list!! The great bulk of the top marks once more came from the “Van Damme Memorial” in Brussels, although only four of the Olympic runners participated. The winner Abdullah Ahmad Hassan (26:59) could of course have featured highly in Athens but he was not allowed to compete in the Olympics due to his recent change of nationality.

5000m/10,000m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 13 Dec 2004  
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Kenenisa BEKELE  82 ETH 1460
2. Sileshi SIHINE  83 ETH 1383
3. Eliud KIPCHOGE  84 KEN 1370
4. Gebre−Egziabher GEBREMARIAM  84 ETH 1368
5. Haile GEBRSELASSIE  73 ETH 1355
6. Mushir Salim JAWHER  78 BRN 1343
7. John Kemboi KIBOWEN  69 KEN 1340
8. Ahmad Hassan ABDULLAH  81 QAT 1338

3000m Steeplechase
For a long period now this event has been Kenyan property and it remained very much so with another medal sweep in Athens and nine out of the top-10 runners on the year list being Kenyan born, although two of them now represent Qatar internationally.

The nationality switch prevented the reigning World champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen from competing in the Olympics but it didn’t prevent him remaining in charge of the event for one more year, winning all his six competitions which provided him with a 3-0 record versus Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi.

And not only that. The first attempt at the World record in Zürich failed but when Shaheen tried again in Brussels after the Olympics it was so “easy” that although he didn’t push it 100% in the finishing straight, by running 7:53.63 he lowered the old mark by almost two seconds. It looked like even sub-7:50 was within reach!

On the Kenyan scene Ezekiel Kemboi and Paul K. Koech actually remained the top two but of course there were always a number of exciting revelations: Brimin Kipruto, Wesley Kiprotich and Richard Matelong, all came out of international obscurity in 2004 (8:34+ last year) all the way down to 8:05. Kipruto even managed to get the Olympic silver by finishing a couple of steps ahead of Koech.

The only statistical exception to the Kenyan rule of the event was provided by Brahim Boulami who returned from a 2-year suspension in Brussels. Although he lost his World record that evening he still showed that he was back in the world elite by finishing third in 8:02 defeating among other Kipruto.

Otherwise it was a quiet year for the steeplechase.

Steeplechase - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 13 Dec 2004 
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Paul Kipsiele KOECH  81 KEN 1405
2. Ezekiel KEMBOI  82 KEN 1391
3. Saif Saaeed SHAHEEN  82 QAT 1389
4. Julius NYAMU  77 KEN 1320
5.  David CHEMWENO  81 KEN 1317
6. Brimin KIPRUTO  85 KEN 1316
7. Ali EZZINE  78 MAR 1301
8. Wesley KIPROTICH  82 KEN 1300

 

WOMEN - Long distance

Another high standard season in women’s long distance running finally saw Jiang Bo’s (CHN) almost seven-year-old World record in the 5000m fall. Elvan Abeylegesse (TUR) lowered the record to 14:24.68 in the first Golden League meeting in Bergen in June. Paula Radcliffe (GBR) was again in the spotlight after her disappointing 2003 season because of injury, but her 2004 campaign was not a success either. Although she went to the Olympics as a favourite in the marathon and as the world leader in the 10,000m, she could not finish in either of those races. Ethiopians were top class again, but once again, like in Paris, a Chinese runner, Xing Huina, with no notable times from 2004, surprised the Africans in the 10,000m race, this time not just getting a medal but winning the Olympic gold with a fast finish.

5000m
Although Elvan Abeylegesse produced the World record in the early season, she did not - like in the 1500m - play a big role in the latter part of the season including the Olympics.

Ethiopians were incredibly commanding in the 5000m, there were seven in the top 12 placings on the world lists. During the summer in addition to the Ethiopians, also the Kenyans showed enough good form to be considered for the medal placings in the Olympics. Paula Radcliffe only raced once over this distance winning the European Cup Super League in Bydgoszcz in a national record of 14:29.11. Abeylegesse’s only race before Athens was the World record breaking one in Bergen at the beginning of June.

In Athens, the final was another slow one with some very fast last few laps. Meseret Defar (ETH) edged Kenyan Isabella Ochichi, taking the Olympic gold with times 14:45.65 – 14:48.19. Another Ethiopian, Tirunesh Dibaba the 2003 World champion, still only 19 years old in Athens, took the bronze in 14:51.83.

The Olympic year really deepened the quality in the event. There were 28 athletes under 15 minutes during 2004, whereas in 2003 we had 23, 17 in 2002, 18 in 2001 and 24 in 2000. Ethiopia and Kenya both had 15 athletes in the world top-100, Japan was third with 11.

10,000m
Paula Radcliffe ran a very promising world leading time of 30:17.15 in Gateshead in June and of course had to be considered one of the main favourites for the Olympic 10,000m race in Athens but of course the problems she encountered during the Marathon made things quite different by the time the start dawned.

The 10,000m Olympic race saw another slow start, but naturally the second part, well under 15 minutes, was another story. As expected, the Ethiopians and Kenyans along with Lornah Kiplagat (NED) took their places in the leading group, but this time they were accompanied by not one, but two Chinese runners who didn’t have fast marks in the world lists prior to the Olympics.

To the surprise of the other runners, it was Xing Huina, 20-years-old, the World junior record breaker at the Paris World Championships in 2003, who was not dropped and was able to pass Ejagayou Dibaba easily in the final straight for gold.

Xing’s tactics were clear as she only led the race for the last 30 metres or so, and was never seen by the silver medallist who thought Xing was a lapped runner when she was passed just before the finish.

Depth in the 10,000m didn’t change dramatically. In the 2000 Olympic season, there were 49 athletes under 32 minutes, in 2003 there 46, 31 in 2002 and 38 in 2001. Japan is the absolute commander in this event with 35 athletes in the world top-100, Kenya and USA tied at nine each.

5000m/10,000m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 13 Dec 2004  
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points
1. Ejegayehu DIBABA  82 ETH 1372
2. Meseret DEFAR  83 ETH 1364
3. Isabella OCHICHI  79 KEN 1359
4. Edith MASAI  67 KEN 1356
5. Tirunesh DIBABA  85 ETH 1353
6. Joanne PAVEY  73 GBR 1315
7. Elvan ABEYLEGESSE  82 TUR 1304
8. Alice TIMBILIL  83 KEN 1298

3000m Steeplechase
Although the women’s 3000m Steeplechase will only be introduced to major championships in Helsinki 2005, there is already a clear favourite that has emerged.

Gulnara Samitova (RUS) repeated her World record feat from 2003, this time coming very close to the magical nine minute mark when running 9:01.59 in Iraklio, Greece in July. The Russian was absolutely the best during 2004, fellow Russian Lyubov Ivanova was more 26 seconds behind her in the world lists with her 9:28.02.

The USA toped the lists with 24 athletes in the world top-100, Russia had ten, and Kenya, six.

NB. There are no IAAF World Rankings for the Women’s Steeplechase.