Kenenisa Bekele leads Abebe Dinkessa in the 2005 Hengelo 10,000m (© AFP/Getty Images)
Ethiopian runners put on a terrific show at the World Championships in Paris two years ago in this event. They gave the others no chance and took home all the medals. Kenenisa Bekele was crowned the World champion, and he looks a cert to defend his title in Helsinki.
We have already mentioned the tragic start to Bekele’s year in the 5000m preview (death of his fiancée), but after he regrouped his emotions and sauntered to another World Cross Country double in France in March, he next showed a clean pair of heels to the world’s elite running 10,000m at his European ’home’ track in Hengelo. ’Home’ because this meet has become a regular stop for so many Ethiopian distance running greats, and Bekele had himself set the current World 5000m record there in 2004. Bekele’s 26:28.72 win in Hengelo was the fourth fastest time ever run, in what were cold and windy conditions.
The Athens Olympics marked the end of an era in the men’s distance events. There, the great Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia was fifth in the 10,000m, and does not appear in the team list for Helsinki preferring to attack the World record for the Marathon in Amsterdam this autumn.
Given that as defending champion Bekele is an automatic selection for the Worlds, the Ethiopian team is able to field a total of four Ethiopians in this event. Bekele’s team mates are Abebe Dinkesa (26:30.74), Sileshi Sihine (26:57.27) and they are the next fastest on the world season’s list, the former behind Bekele in Hengelo and the latter when winning a largely solo effort in Prague. Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam the team’s fourth string won in Palo Alto in May with 27:11.57.
Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco has got closest to the Ethiopians’ pace this season with 27:02.62. He finished third at Hengelo, taking 24 seconds off his personal best. The other Moroccans, Mohammed Amyn is also in good form with his season best of 27:22.67 and their third runner, Khalid el Amri has run 27:26.24.
Kenya will also have three strong competitors in this event. Charles Kamathi, the 2001 World champion, clocked 27:28.35 in Kobe, Japan, finishing third behind Martin Mathathi who won that race in 27:08.42, both are selected for the squad. The third Kenyan is Moses Mosop who has a personal best of 27:13.66. This time says much more about him than his season’s best of 27:51 which obviously doesn’t impress on paper. However, he showed his good condition in a tightly fought race in Oslo over 5000m (13:07.81 – second to Kenyan 5000m team entrant John Kibowen) displaying a potent sprint finish.
Japan produces an impressive number of world-class distance runners. There are about a hundred Japanese capable of running under 30 minutes. Perhaps the best candidate to keep up with the Africans in Helsinki is Yuu Mitsuya, whose season best is 27:41.10.
The Europeans probably will not have much of a chance at the World Championships, but at least Juan Carlos de la Ossa and Jose Manuel Martinez of Spain should qualify for the final and maybe finish in the top eight.
Mebrahtom Keflezighi, who represents the United States, won the Marathon silver medal at the Olympics in Athens, and is running the 10,000m in Helsinki with his mind focused on his next Marathon in the autumn in New York. He has a personal best of 27:13.98, and a season’s best of 28:10.57 when coming second in the USA Championships. Abdirahman Abdihakem, the national champion and other US entrant ran 27:33.47, a personal best, for 9th behind Bekele in Hengelo.
Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea won a surprising bronze medal in the Athens Olympics and will double in Helsinki at 5000m and 10,000m and has season’s bests of 13:12.23 and 27:47.14.
Helsinki 2005 media team
