Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) celebrates breaking the 5000m World record in Hengelo (© Willem Pfeiffer)
Twentyfour hours after his extraordinary new World 5000m record on Monday night in Hengelo (NED), Kenenisa Bekele, the prodigious Ethiopian runner who won an unprecedented three-time World Cross Country double, confirmed his participation in the Lausanne Grand Prix next 6 July.
Consequently, the spectators of the “Stade de la Pontaise” will have the pleasure to see him at the start of the 5000m race, one year after his victory in the same event.
This will be great occasion for the fans as Lausanne is most likely to be Bekele’s last 5000m before the Athens Olympic Games.
Bekele is also the World Indoor record holder at 5000m with 12:49.60, a performance achieved in Birmingham last February.
World 10,000m champion in Paris last summer, Bekele was third at 5000m a few days later, beaten on the line by Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya and Hicham El Guerrouj.
The Moroccan four-time World champion will also be present in Lausanne but will compete in the 1500m.