Depending on the decisions of its two main protagonists, the men’s 5000m could well be a re-run of last year’s World championships final. After initial doubts, Ethiopia’s double World record breaker Kenenisa Bekele says he intends to go for golds in both the 10,000m and the 5000m in Athens, but Hicham El Guerrouj is leaving his decision until much nearer the time.
If he bags a much deserved 1500m gold on Tuesday evening, surely the great Moroccan won’t be able to resist the temptation of emulating Finland’s Paavo Nurmi in going for the “impossible double”. If he can cruise through the 5000m semis the following night, he will then have three days to recover for the final. After Zurich, however, victory in the 1500m is far from certain.
Bekele’s blistering World record (12:37.35) must make him favourite, but as the Paris final showed, winning any distance running a double is a tall order. Bekele was edged into third last year by El Guerrouj and the 18 year-old victor, Eliud Kipchoge. The young Kenyan has shown flying form again this season, especially in Rome, where he won in 12:46.53, this year’s second quickest time.
Just over a tenth of a second behind him that night was Sileshi Sihine, who has been training hard in Addis Ababa with Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie. He too may double up at 5000m and 10,000m.
As ever, part of the fascination will be the team battle between the Kenyans and the Ethiopians, and Kipchoge will be ably supported by last year’s fourth and fifth placed finishers John Kibowen and Abrahaim Chebii. Kibowen showed that he’s in shape to challenge for medals when he ran 13:01.32 in Rome, and 13:01.69 in Zurich last Friday.
The surprise of the event, indeed of the season, could be Craig Mottram. The tall Australian all but beat Gebrselassie in London and was rewarded for his bravery with an Oceanian record of 12:55.76. Less than four seconds behind him was Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri, another potential finallist.
MB
NOTE. Bekele is currently the number one in the 5000m/10,000m event category of the IAAF World Rankings
