Kenenisa Bekele wins the 5000m in Birmingham in a world indoor record (© Getty Images)
In the Dutch town of Hengelo on Monday (31 May) at the Thales FBK-Games - IAAF Grand Prix - meeting, the men’s World 5000m record comes under the shadow of the latest Ethiopian distance running maestro Kenenisa Bekele.
Bekele the World 10,000m champion and world record holder for the indoor 5000m has more than proved his track credentials in the course of the last 12 months
The master of the mud, the greatest ever cross country runner, the unique winner of three World Cross Country doubles, Bekele with his 10,000m gold and a gutsy 5000m bronze run in Paris Saint-Denis last summer is now just as potent a force on the rigid confines of a 400m track as he has across the country.
Bekele unlike his mentor Haile Gebrselassie the reigning double Olympic 10,000m champion, also carries the mark of an all-terrain vehicle. Even the great Haile could never string together triumphs indoor and outdoor with cross country success.
Gebrselassie though still holds the outdoor World records for both 5000m and 10,000m, and it is to the former of these the 12:39.36 which he set in Helsinki on 13 June 1998 that Bekele will turn his attention at 19:55hrs local time on Monday night in Hengelo’s Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadium.
Anybody who witnessed Bekele’s majestic stroll to double World Cross gold in Brussels at the end of March should need no convincing of his potential to unseat that mark.
If there are any doubters Bekele’s own words after his recent victory at the Ethiopian Championships in Addis Ababa should convince them – “My manager Jos (Jos Hermens) and the organisers have arranged for me to try and break the World record in Hengelo,” he said. “If the pacemakers and the weather are OK, I believe that I can try to achieve that.”
Mutola, El Guerrouj and Gebrselassie
Yet Bekele is by no means the only draw for the anticipated full-house of spectators in Hengelo. In particular packed into the last one hour and fifteen minutes of the Thales FBK-Games we have the star names of quadruple World 1500m gold medallist Hicham El Guerrouj running the 1500m, Bekele, World and Olympic 800m champion Maria Mutola in the women’s 800m, and Gebrselassie in the finale, the men’s 10,000m!
Quality 800m
Sandwiched in that grand finale section of the meet is also the men’s 800m which contains two men Wilfried Bungei and Japhet Kimutai with personal bests under 1:43. As such, Hengelo can await perhaps one of the greatest combined displays of distance running in its history.
El Guerrouj versus Kipchoge
A particularly interesting tussle could await El Guerrouj in the 1500m, as coming down a distance or two is World 5000m champion Eliud Kipchoge of Kenyan who so memorably out-dipped the Moroccan to win that World title in Paris.
Mr. Hengelo
Gebrselassie is given the top billing of the night in the 10,000m which will close the meeting, a fitting tribute to “Mr. Hengelo” who has set two 10,000m and one 5000m World records at the meeting in past years. Also, with his compatriot Sileshi Sihine, the World bronze medallist in the race who would be surprised if the pace, like the 5000m moved on to World record schedule too.
Supreme Mutola
Mutola takes on an 800m field which includes another seven women with personal bests under 2 minutes but none should trouble the Golden League Jackpot winner such is her superiority.
There are also top notch women’s 1500 and 5000m races earlier in a meeting progamme which is dominated by distance running. Australia’s World Cross Country champion Benita Johnson starts in the latter. Another earlier evening scheduled event is the men’s 3000m Steeplechase which features Reuben Kosgei, the former World but still reigning Olympic champion.
American Larry Wade heads a high class men's sprint hurdles, the best quality sprint of the night, though Merlene Ottey of Slovenia who runs the women's 100m would quite likely argue with that statement.
Strong field event line-up
In the field, Belarussia’s World champion Andrey Mikhnevich heads the men’s Shot cast; Olympic champion Heike Drechsler foots the runway in the women’s Long Jump facing India’s World Championships medallist Bobby Anju George; Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic will star in the women’s High Jump; there is also a class men’s Pole Vault with Olympic champion Nick Hysong battling with Tim Lobinger and Romain Mesnil to name but two of the Americans opponents.
IAAF
** NB. Preview based on Start list information as of 27 May
Click here for related story -
