A portrait of Kenenisa Bekele after winning gold in the men's 10,000m final (© Getty Images)
Helsinki, FinlandKenenisa Bekele decided not to pack three grueling races into one week, but the Ethiopian World 10,000m champion's season is far from over. Bekele plans to attack his World 10,000m record at the Brussels TDK Golden League meet on 26 August, which he will warm up for with a 3000m at the Zurich TDK Golden League meet on 19 August.
"One semi-final and final in 5000 is too much for me," said Bekele the day after he retained his World 10,000m title in 27:08.33 and opted out of the Helsinki 5000 in which he had also been entered. Feeling his preparation was less satisfactory than in the last two global championship seasons due to the loss of his fiancée this year, he was reluctant to tackle the demanding double at such an important event as Helsinki 2005.
|
But with some time to recover and some additional training, the Olympic champion will be ready to go out again.
"I will try the World record," said Bekele, who attempted earlier this season to improve the 26:20.31 mark he set in 2004 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. Running in extremely windy conditions in Hengelo, the Netherlands on 29 May, he clocked 26:28.72, the fourth fastest time ever.
"I want to go back tomorrow for training," said Bekele, whose brother Tariku and other training partners are in Helsinki. "So I will train alone in Ethiopia." After contesting the 5000m in Helsinki, Tariku is scheduled to pace Kenenisa in Brussels, most likely as the second pacemaker.
Hengelo and Brussels have provided most of the world's fastest 10,000m times in recent years. Brussels' Memorial van Damme meet was the venue for Kenyan Paul Tergat's World record in 1997, on a night when two of Ethiopian ace Haile Gebrselassie's best marks were snatched by Kenyans. Daniel Komen took Gebrselassie's 5000m record there, but the then three-time World champion Gebrselassie regained both World records the following year, eventually losing them to Bekele in 2004.
The 2005 Brussels 10,000m is scheduled to also feature Tergat's compatriot and the new World bronze medallist Moses Mosop, as well as Helsinki fourth-place finisher Boniface Kiprop of Uganda.
Sabrina Yohannes for the IAAF