BEIJING – Almaz Ayana covered the closing laps of the 5000m final at the IAAF World Championships in world record pace to defeat team-mate Genzebe Dibaba in a championship record of 14:26.83 Almaz Ayana covered the last eight laps of the women’s 5000m final at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in world record pace to break world 1500m champion and world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba on Sunday (30).
Dibaba was widely tipped to become the first woman in history to claim a 1500/5000m double in a global championships but the 24-year-old was running on heavy legs after five races in nine days and fell off the pace with three laps to go.
Ayana’s sustained injection of pace was unprecedented. In an antidote to the sit-and-kick affair in the men’s final yesterday, Ayana took up the running after passing the second kilometre point in a solid but unspectacular 6:06.67.
The former steeplechaser tested Dibaba with a third kilometre split of 2:49.37 but all of the damage was done in the fourth kilometre. With back-to-back laps of 66.30 and 64.52, Ayana covered the fourth kilometre in 2:43.62 which translates to sub-13:40 pace for the distance. By this point, Dibaba had lost about 30 metres on her compatriot with the chasing pack another 80 metres in arrears.
With a solo run on the last two laps, Ayana came through to claim Ethiopia’s third gold medal of the championships. Her winning time of 14:26.83 was the fastest ever recorded in a global championships, and the fastest on Chinese soil.
Dibaba haemorrhaged ground in the last kilometre to the extent she was caught on the line by her compatriot Senbere Teferi, who claimed silver in 14:44.07 to Dibaba’s 14:44.14.
Dibaba was the bookies’ favourites to win the 1500m and 5000m titles but the 1500m champion wasn’t disappointed to lose out today.
“I am not disappointed about this bronze medal. My country won three medals, I can only be pleased about this,” said Dibaba, who might not have been racing at full fitness today.
“It was really a hard race. I had so many races recently and after the 1500m final, my injury on the left foot started. I have a heel spur which hurts a lot. The race was so tough for me because of this injury.”
Regardless, Ayana would have been difficult to deny regardless of Dibaba’s form. To underline how good today’s performance was, Ayana covered the last 3km in 8:19.91 – a time which hasn’t been matched outdoors since 1993.
Behind the Ethiopian trio, Kenyan athletes covered the next four spots. Viola Kibiwott was fourth in 14:46.16 ahead of her more favoured compatriot Mercy Cherono, who ran 15:01.36. Janet Kisa and Irene Cheptai followed in 15:02.68 and 15:03.41 respectively.
Susan Kuijken of the Netherlands completed the top eight with her time of 15:08.00.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images
News Source – Worldrunning.com
