Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia kicks for home in the men's 5000m (© Getty Images)
World champion Kenenisa Bekele will be among the headline acts at this year's edition of the FBK Games in Hengelo, organizers of the IAAF World Challenge Meeting have announced.
Bekele, the reigning World and Olympic 5000 and 10,000m champion, is no stranger to FBK Stadium, the venue where he set his 12:37:35 World record in the 5000m in 2004.
This year he will be contesting the 3000m in which he boasts a 7:25.79 career best from Stockholm in 2007, which places him as the sixth fastest ever over the distance. With his 2004 run in Hengelo Bekele succeeded Haile Gebrselassie as the 5000m World record holder. This year, he could be targeting another mark by his predecessor, Gebrselassie's 7:29.49 meeting record set back in 1996 when Bekele was just shy of his 14th birthday.
Bekele will open his season at the IAAF Diamond League opener in Doha on 14 May where he will run the 5000m.
Organisers have also announced a high level men's Long Jump duel between Olympic champion Irving Saladino of Panama and American Dwight Phillips, the reigning World champion.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
