On Sunday, Sifan Hassan confirmed that she would be attempting an unprecedented Olympic treble in Tokyo. On Monday (2) she completed the first part of that mission by winning the 5000m title in impressive style.
After claiming world 1500m and 10,000m titles in Doha two years ago, the Dutch 28-year-old decided to try to go one better on the Olympic stage, adding the 5000m into the mix. Despite running, and falling, in the 1500m heats earlier on in the day, she returned to the track 12 hours later to clock 14:36.79 after timing her winning kick to perfection.
Such was the manner of her final surge, Kenya&rsquo;s two-time world champion and now two-time Olympic silver medallist Hellen Obiri could not respond but she held on to cross the finish line in 14:38.36 for her second successive Olympic runner-up finish.
Just behind her was Ethiopia&rsquo;s world-leader Gudaf Tsegay, running 14:38.87 for bronze, with Kenya&rsquo;s Agnes Tirop fourth (14:39.62) and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ejgayehu Taye fifth (14:41.24).
"I can't believe it,&rdquo; beamed Hassan. &ldquo;I used all my energy this morning and I was kind of tired. I couldn't believe what happened. I felt terrible (after her 1500m fall) and I never thought I was going to be Olympic champion.
"I was so scared I wasn't going to do it." 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/610806b7c95c2d5d13ea2783.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 The final may have featured five of the world&rsquo;s 10 fastest ever 5000m women, but the start was conservative, and it was Japan&rsquo;s Ririka Hironaka who took the early lead. The heavy rain to have fallen earlier in the evening had stopped, but conditions remained warm and humid as the race got under way.
Hironaka was to the fore through the first kilometre, passed in 3:00.7, just ahead of world indoor 1500m record-holder Tsegay, Obiri and Tirop. Hassan was sitting comfortably in 10th, showing no signs of the fall she had suffered in her 1500m heat, which she went on to win in 4:05.17.
Obiri, on the hunt for her first Olympic gold after world title wins indoors, outdoors and in cross country, added some pace before Taye took over at the front and led through 2000m with 6:00.3 on the clock.
Obiri and Taye continued to control proceedings over the next two kilometres, passing the 3000m mark in 8:59.9 and 4000m in 11:57.1, when a lead group of seven athletes started to break away. Hassan was at the back of the pack, behind Taye and Obiri, Tirop, Tsegay, Turkey&rsquo;s Yasemin Can and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Senbere Teferi. Again it was Taye and Obiri shoulder-to-shoulder with two laps to go, as Hassan sat in sixth.
Tsegay went wide to join Obiri at the front at the bell, with Hassan in fifth. Making a move with 300m to go, Hassan used some of the speed which has seen her clock 3:51.95 for 1500m to run the fastest ever last lap in a women&rsquo;s Olympic 5000m final. Part of a 2:04.69 final 800m, Hassan clocked a 57.09 last 400m and 27.7 for her final 200m. Although Obiri fought off the final bend, Hassan was well away and after a few glances over her shoulder she was dominant down the home straight, spreading her arms wide in celebration as she crossed the finish line.
Receiving the Netherlands flag for her victory lap, Hassan draped it over her body as she knelt down and then curled up in a ball on the track, the first part of her treble attempt ticked off.
&ldquo;I know that Sifan is good over the final 400m and I tried to hold her, but there was nothing I could do. I tried my best,&rdquo; said Obiri, who was pleased with her second Olympic silver. &ldquo;To be No.2, it is quite amazing because it is a big achievement.&rdquo;
Behind the top five, Teferi was sixth in 14:45.11, while Italy&rsquo;s European under-23 champion Nadia Battocletti came through for seventh, clocking a PB of 14:46.29. Can finished eighth in 14:46.49, while Hironaka broke the Japanese record with 14:52.84 in ninth and Israel&rsquo;s Selamawit Teferi rounded out the top 10 in 14:54.39.
Hassan next returns to the track for the 1500m semifinals on 4 August, with the final on 6 August and the 10,000m final one day later.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S 5000m MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 65%; background-color: #e9c968;">Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 25%; background-color: #e9c968;">14:36.79</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 65%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN</td>
<td style="width: 25%; background-color: #ced4d9;">14:38.36</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 65%; background-color: #bd895e;">Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH</td>
<td style="width: 25%; background-color: #bd895e;">14:38.87</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/results/women/5000-metres/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

On Sunday, Sifan Hassan confirmed that she would be attempting an unprecedented Olympic treble in Tokyo. On Monday she completed the first part of that mission by winning the 5000m title in impressive style.

Hassan wins 5000m to get Olympic treble target under way

If there is one thing that has characterised the fledgling career of 21-year-old Ethiopian distance runner Selemon Barega, it is fearlessness.
Since bursting on to the international scene as a precocious teenager, he has never been afraid to take on the best runners in the world, even when, on occasion, he has been schooled by his elders in major races.
But he has clearly been learning, because he gave a distance-running masterclass to win the <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/news/tokyo-olympic-games-men-10000m-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">men&rsquo;s 10,000m</a> at the Olympic Stadium on Friday night (30), the first gold medal awarded in athletics at the Tokyo Games.
A fascinating race, with a series of twists and turns, ultimately came down to the usual suspects - the world 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei, the world silver medallist Barega and the world half marathon champion Jacob Kiplimo.
Cheptegei, the world record-holder over both 5000m and 10,000m, had made no secret of his desire to succeed Mo Farah as the Olympic champion, but Barega ran the better tactical race, getting the jump on his Ugandan rivals when he launched a withering attack 350m from the finish line.&nbsp;
He committed completely to the move, tearing away as if being pursued by wolves. Cheptegei and Kiplimo were a beat too slow to react in the oppressive conditions (27 degrees and 80 percent humidity) and ultimately that made the difference.
The Ugandan duo closed on their quarry in the last 50 metres but it was too late. Barega crossed the finish line with arms aloft in 27:43.22, recapturing the title for Ethiopia for the first time since 2008 (Kenenisa Bekele). Cheptegei finished just 0.41 behind (27:43.63), with Kiplimo third (27:43.88).
Barega said he had prepared for a sprint finish and was confident in his late turn of speed.
"When I was left with very short lengths like 400 (metres) or 200 (metres), I was really confident about myself to win," he said.&nbsp;
He declared that he would like to step into the shoes of his illustrious forebears Haile Gebrselassie and Bekele, by attempting the 5000m-10,000m double in Tokyo, if allowed by his team.
Cheptegei admitted afterwards that he had been caught in two minds, and was unwilling to push the pace earlier after struggling with a tendon injury in his heel for the last few months. 
<h2>Hassan,&nbsp;Tsegay and&nbsp;Obiri advance</h2>
Meanwhile, all the main contenders progressed safely through the women&rsquo;s 5000m heats, headed by first heat winner Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands (14:47.89). 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/610404ca9c55819dd106668f.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="640" />
 Hassan may yet tackle an unprecedented treble at these Games as she has entered the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m and is tempted by the opportunity to do something that no other athlete has done in the Olympic arena.
She expended as little energy as possible tonight, only exerting herself in the late stages, and she kept her cards equally close to her chest in the post-race interviews.
"I never say 'I&rsquo;m going to compete (in) three events', I just look at (it) one by one," she said.
"Now I&rsquo;m happy that I made it to the 5000m final and the weather is so hot, and I have a lot of pressure with Covid, about everything."
Kenyan pair Agnes Tirop (14:48.01) and Lilian Rengeruk (14:50.35), plus Ethiopian pair Selamawit Teferi (14:48.31) and Ejgayehu Taye (14:48.52), were the other automatic qualifiers from the first heat.
The second heat was dominated by Ethiopia&rsquo;s Gudaf Tsegay (14:55.74) and Kenyan world champion Hellen Obiri (14:55.77) ahead of Italy&rsquo;s Nadia Battocletti (14:55.83), the USA's Elise Cranny (14:56.14) and Norway&rsquo;s Karoline Grovdal (14:56.82).
Burundi&rsquo;s Francine Niyonsaba was third across the finish line but was disqualified for stepping inside the track on the bend. The Burundi team appealed the decision but the Jury of Appeal reviewed the video evidence and denied it.
Obiri revealed afterwards that the Kenyan trio would run as a team in the final in order to claim back the gold medal for their country. 
<h2>Relay drama</h2>
The mixed 4x400m relay made its Olympic debut with a dramatic qualifying round. The US team was initially disqualified for having one runner start outside the takeover zone, after winning the first heat in 3:11.39, only to be reinstated a few hours later.
Second-placed Dominican Republic (3:12.74) had also been ruled out for lining up in the wrong order at the takeover, but they too were reinstated.
Behind them, also securing places in the final, was Belgium (3:12.75) and Ireland (3:12.88). 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6103f397ef667c76188d1541.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 The second heat was faster as Poland set a European record of 3:10.44 to win from the Netherlands (3:10.69), Jamaica (3:11.76) and Great Britain (3:11.95).
Twelve of the 15 teams in action set national records, reflecting the youth of the event, which was introduced at the World Athletics Championships in Doha two years ago.
By contrast, world champion and 2020 female World Athlete of the Year Yulimar Rojas breezed through the qualifying round of the triple jump, progressing with one jump despite taking off nearly 40cm behind the board.
Her leap of 14.77m was still well clear of the automatic qualifying standard of 14.40m and would have been well over 15 metres had she hit the board on take off.
Dominica&rsquo;s Thea LaFond joins her in the final with a national record of 14.60m on her first jump. Other one-jump qualifiers included Portugal&rsquo;s Patricia Mamona (14.54m), Cuba&rsquo;s Liadagmis Povea (14.50m) and Jamaica&rsquo;s Shanieka Ricketts (14.43m). Spain&rsquo;s Ana Peleteiro (14.62m) also progressed comfortably. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6103f02ccc52e2680e5df19e.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 But the drama was around 37-year-old two-time world champion Caterine Ibarguen, who struggled to find her rhythm on the runway and was facing elimination before a third round jump of 14.37m, which earned her place in the final as the seventh-best qualifier.
Another veteran, two-time Olympic shot put champion Valerie Adams, had no such difficulty, becoming the first shot putter in history to reach five Olympic finals with an automatic qualifier of 18.83m.
However, reigning world champion Gong Lijiao dominated proceedings with a best throw of 19.46m, ahead of her compatriot Song Jiayuan (19.23m) and American Raven Saunders (19.22m).
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Selemon Barega gave a distance-running masterclass to win the men’s 10,000m.

Barega wins first final as action heats up at Tokyo Olympics

Canada&rsquo;s Moh Ahmed has been a force on the world distance running scene for the past decade, notably finishing fourth in the Rio Olympics 5000m before snatching the bronze medal at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
As he prepares for his third Olympic Games from the Bowerman Track Club&rsquo;s altitude training base in Park City, Utah, he knows he cannot be complacent going forward.
At the Florence Wanda Diamond League meeting on 10 June, Ahmed finished third in the 5000m in 12:50.12 &ndash; not far off his Canadian record of 12:47.20. That splendid result has come to be expected of the 30-year-old. The surprise, however, was that his fellow Canadian Justyn Knight, who had finished runner-up to Ahmed at the Canadian Championships in 2017, 2018 and 2019, claimed fifth in that stellar field with a huge personal best of 12:51.93.
This pair are now the two fastest North American 5000m runners of all-time. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/4d55b20c-67e0-4d57-b206-2d7d01501210.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I was surprised,&rdquo; says Knight, 25. &ldquo;It was my first &lsquo;5km&rsquo; in two years. The last one I ran was at the 2019 World Championships. Now we are in 2021, a lot of time has passed and I have been working really hard to improve myself.
&ldquo;I was able to do lots of base training to make sure I was strong enough and then, leading up to that 5000m, I was fortunate enough to get into a couple of good 1500m races. I think I knew where I was at.&rdquo;
The jovial Toronto area native made the final of the 2017 World Championships 5000m, six months before winning the NCAA indoor 5000m title for Syracuse University. Precocious talent doesn&rsquo;t go far enough in describing his ability. But it was a huge 1500m personal best of 3:33.41 in May of this year which signalled a major breakthrough in his specialty was imminent. There is one reason for it.
While most NCAA athletes find themselves in a position where they must change coaches when turning professional, Knight&rsquo;s graduation from university coincided with his coach Chris Fox&rsquo;s hiring as head of Reebok Boston Track Club in 2018.
&ldquo;I was fortunate to leave college and have the same coach,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;We had a tremendous amount of success at Syracuse and we accomplished a lot of great things. He knows me really well, I know him really well and he knows how to get me fired up. I listen to the coach and have complete trust and faith in him.&rdquo;
The club is based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Knight jokes: &ldquo;Charlottesville is too long a word to fit on a singlet!&rdquo; With a smile he apologises for the confusion over names.&nbsp;
The area is known for its hills and autumn training includes many repetitions on some of the hilly dirt roads outside the city. Recently, Knight has been &lsquo;honing the speed&rsquo; needed for the Olympics and he believes he will be equally prepared for a &lsquo;sit and kick&rsquo; race or one that is fast from the gun. Surprisingly, one common and seemingly universal training element is missing from his experiences.
&ldquo;I have never done altitude training,&rdquo; he reveals. &ldquo;I have been begging my coach to try it. He actually promised me that after 2020 maybe we could try it, then the Olympics got delayed. Maybe next year I will be lucky. It&rsquo;s something I have always wanted to try but never had the opportunity to do.&rdquo;
A 15-minute interview turns into a two-hour chat as the humble athlete enjoys discussing the history of athletics. Learning that his manager, Ray Flynn, still holds the Irish mile record (3:49.77) comes as a delightful surprise. It is evident he has time on his hands. Because of travel restrictions which required Canadians to quarantine upon returning home he has not been back to Toronto since Christmas. Friends and family are missed.
&ldquo;My days are pretty relaxed, especially during Covid. I don&rsquo;t really go out so to reduce the possibility of coming in contact with the virus,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;I have been very fortunate, I have been staying in touch with my friends on FaceTime. I love watching movies, I play a lot of games as well. Sometimes &ndash; and in case my mum reads this &ndash; I do crack open a book every now and then.&rdquo;
Knight laughs at this statement. But beneath the cheerful exterior there lies a dedicated and ambitious athlete who is always seeking improvement. He was ninth in the 2017 World Championships 5000m final while a student-athlete and 10th in Doha two years later. Those experiences, as well as that Florence 5000m, showed him he can run with the best in the world.
&ldquo;I was just happy to break that 13-minute barrier but there are still some improvements that I can make,&rdquo; he declares. &ldquo;Florence was a huge confidence booster, especially because I was running with the talented group I was running with.
&ldquo;Usually I am accustomed to running with the second group, I guess, being part of the chase pack. And in that Florence Diamond League race I was in the top five or six front group. Hopefully I can be in contention to do something special at the Olympics.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61004e5eb643ff4dc4765dd9.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="647" />
 Clearly this young man has ambitions and the talent to perhaps pull off some surprises in the coming years. Ironically, he credits Ahmed&rsquo;s longstanding experiences on the world stage as being an influence. And he lets out a little secret.
&ldquo;Moh has been a huge inspiration to me ever since I started running,&rdquo; he declares with candour. &ldquo;My freshman year in college, back when Facebook was the most popular social media site, I wrote him a message just reaching out to him, just saying: &lsquo;Hey, I look up to you, do you have any tips as a runner?&rsquo; He got back to me fairly quickly.
&ldquo;That meant the world to me and that was kind of the start of our friendship. Just to see Moh throughout the years bring Canadian distance running back with all these Canadian records he has set, and all these championships races he has run in, and how he has always represented us in the best way possible. It&rsquo;s just really nice to have someone to look up to.
&ldquo;Now I am in a position where I am competing alongside him and we have the potential to do something special, at the same time, for Canada &ndash; that would just be a great accomplishment for us both and would mean a lot to our nation as well.&rdquo;
Knight will race only the 5000m while Ahmed is planning the 5000m and 10,000m double in Tokyo. In Doha, the 5000m final was six days before the 10,000m where Ahmed came back to finish sixth in a Canadian record of 26:59.35. In Tokyo, the 10,000m final is on the first night of athletics competition, leaving Ahmed four days to recover before the 5000m heats. 
The Canadian team will first gather in Gifu, Japan, where they will adjust to the time difference and to the heat. Expectations will run high that these two Canadian distance runners will pack a 1-2 punch in the 5000m.
Paul&nbsp;Gains for World Athletics

Moh Ahmed and Justyn Knight will be looking to pack a 1-2 punch at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Ahmed and Knight: Canada’s formidable 5000m duo

<h2>Men's 5000m</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=5000&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391&amp;countryCode=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/5000-metres" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/5000m/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/middle-long/5000-metres/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/middle-long/5000-metres/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/middlelong/5000-metres" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Four of the main contenders in the men&rsquo;s 5000m will enter the event off the back of competing in another discipline.
Ugandan duo Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo are entered for the 10,000m, held four days before the first round of the 5000m. Jakob Ingebrigtsen is entered for the 1500m, the heats of which take place on the same day as the 5000m heats, while the semis and final are respectively held one day before and after the 5000m final. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Getnet Wale, meanwhile, will potentially have two rounds of the steeplechase in his legs before turning his attention to the 5000m.
But Spain&rsquo;s Mohamed Katir, one of the breakthrough sensations of the year, will start the 12-and-a-half-lap event with fresh legs, which could give him the slight advantage.
In terms of pure speed, Cheptegei tops the bill as he owns the world record for the distance with his 12:35.36 clocking from 2019. The 10,000m has been his focus at recent major championships and he won the world title for that distance in 2019. He is no stranger to doubling up, too, as he contested the 5000m and 10,000m in Rio and claimed gold in both events at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In his only 5000m race of the year, Cheptegei was a well-beaten sixth at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence in 12:54.69, the second-fastest of his career. But in 2019 he rebounded from similar early-season results to win the Diamond League title against a high-quality field.
Compatriot Jacob Kiplimo, still only 20 years of age, hasn&rsquo;t been beaten on the track since the 2018 World U20 Championships. Last year he set a Ugandan 3000m record of 7:26.64, clocked a 5000m PB of 12:48.63 to win in Ostrava, won the world half marathon title in Gdynia and then set a national half marathon record of 57:37 in Valencia.
The versatile Kiplimo has raced sparingly this year but won both of his races, clocking a world-leading PB of 26:33.93 over 10,000m and winning over 5000m in Lucerne in 12:55.60. He has never doubled up at a major championships, but he has the ability and endurance to be a big contender in both the 5000m and 10,000m.
Ingebrigtsen is no stranger to a distance double &ndash; or, as was the case at the 2017 European U20 Championships, a triple. The 20-year-old Norwegian won the European 1500m and 5000m titles in 2018 at the age of 17, and earlier this year he claimed 1500m and 3000m gold at the European Indoor Championships.
He finished fourth and fifth over 1500m and 5000m at the 2019 World Championships, but has improved in both events since then. In fact, he&rsquo;ll head to Tokyo as the European record-holder over 1500m (indoors and out), 2000m and 5000m. His latest continental record-breaking performance came when winning the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence in a world-leading PB of 12:48.45.
But the field of athletes he beat in that race was more significant than the time itself. Cheptegei, Katir, two-time world champion Muktar Edris and Canadian duo Moh Ahmed and Justyn Knight all finished in Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s wake, giving the Norwegian a significant psychological advantage heading into the Games.
Katir finished fourth in Florence in a Spanish record of 12:50.79. He then went on to set national records over 1500m (3:28.76) in Monaco and 3000m (7:27.64) in Gateshead. Still relatively new on the international circuit, Katir will be making his global championships debut in Tokyo. But his finishing speed in all of his Wanda Diamond League performances this year suggests he can be a major factor in championship-style racing. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60edfe4816290989cabdbd19.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Before this year, Getnet Wale was better known as a steeplechaser. But after some strong performances indoors &ndash; including a 7:24.98 run over 3000m to move to second on the world indoor all-time list &ndash; the Ethiopian started to focus more on flat events. He won the Ethiopian Olympic Trial race over 5000m, clocking a PB of 12:53.28 to book his place in Tokyo in that discipline. He has also been named in the steeplechase, though, and will be just as big a factor in that event. But this will be the first time he&rsquo;s had to double up at a major event.
Nibret Melak, a two-time Ethiopian cross-country champion, and world U20 cross-country champion Milkesa Mengesha join Wale on Ethiopia&rsquo;s 5000m team.
Canada&rsquo;s world bronze medallist Moh Ahmed finished third in Florence this year in 12:50.12, just ahead of compatriot Justyn Knight (12:51.93). They head to Tokyo as the second- and fourth-fastest entrants in the 5000m and will likely be in the medal hunt.
Trials winner Nicholas Kimeli leads the Kenyan team. Daniel Simiyu, who finished a close second to Kiplimo in Lucerne, is also Tokyo-bound.
USA&rsquo;s 2016 Olympic silver medallist Paul Chelimo and Bahrain&rsquo;s Asian champion Birhanu Balew, a finalist at the past three global championships, are also ones to watch.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's 5000m</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=5000&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391&amp;countryCode=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/5000-metres" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/5000m/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/middle-long/5000-metres/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/middle-long/5000-metres/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/middlelong/5000-metres" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
In Gudaf Tsegay, Ejgayehu Taye, Senbere Teferi, Hellen Obiri and Agnes Tirop, the Tokyo entry list features five of the world&rsquo;s 10 fastest ever 5000m women. Add Sifan Hassan &ndash; 12th on that all-time list &ndash; to the mix, and you have the recipe for a mouth-watering Olympic battle.
Tsegay goes into the race as world leader thanks to her 14:13.32 PB to win the Ethiopian Trials in Hengelo on 8 June, with Taye and Teferi just behind her on that all-time list courtesy of their respective 14:14.09 and 14:15.24 PBs in the same race.
Also on that night, Letesenbet Gidey broke the world 10,000m record but despite having the world 5000m record of 14:06.62 from Valencia last October to her name too, the world 10,000m silver medallist has decided to focus on the longer event in Tokyo.
Since contesting the 800m at the Rio Olympics five years ago, exiting in the heats, Tsegay has gone on to take world 1500m bronze. She also broke the world indoor record for that distance in February, blazing over the finish line in 3:53.09 to take two seconds off the mark which had been set by her compatriot Genzebe Dibaba in 2014. She has less experience in the 5000m but also won the Ethiopian Championships in the event in April, clocking 14:49.7 at the altitude of Addis Ababa. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/20d035dd-451a-4d5b-9bcd-ce8800d8a427.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 When it comes to major championships, Obiri &ndash; the only woman to have ever won a set of world titles indoors, outdoors and at cross country &ndash; has been the dominant force in recent years, winning world 5000m titles in both 2017 and 2019 after her runner-up finish to her compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot in Rio five years ago. She may have finished second at the Kenyan Trials behind Lilian Kasait Rengeruk but Obiri &ndash; who is also entered for the 10,000m &ndash; went on to win at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo. The 31-year-old knows how to peak and will be on the hunt for a first Olympic title.
So too will Hassan. After winning world 1500m and 10,000m titles in Doha in 2019, her focus had seemed to switch to a 5000m and 10,000m double for Tokyo, but the world mile record-holder&rsquo;s 3:53.63 1500m win in Florence last month convinced her to keep her options open and she is entered for all three events. The 5000m would be the first in a potential treble, with the heats on 30 July and final on the evening of 2 August, following the 1500m heats earlier that day.
&ldquo;I say life is not about medals, it is not about gold, it is also about history,&rdquo; the Dutch runner has said. &ldquo;I made the decision to run the 1500m (in Doha) even though I didn&rsquo;t know if it was possible because nobody before had done it (the 1500m-10,000m double).&rdquo;
She could complete the first part of another historic performance with 5000m success in Tokyo. Her European record of 14:22.12 was set in 2019 and she has run 14:35.34 this year but her focus has been on getting a range of experiences over the different distances. She took more than 10 seconds off the world 10,000m record with her 29:06.82 run in Hengelo in June, a mark which was improved by Gidey just two days later.
Joining Obiri and Rengeruk on the Kenyan team in Tokyo will be Tirop, who makes her senior major championships 5000m debut after having claimed bronze medals in the 10,000m at the past two World Championships. Third at the Kenyan trials, she ran her PB of 14:20.68 in 2019.
Nozomi Tanaka, who has broken Japanese records in the 1500m and 3000m this year, is on the host nation team alongside national champion Ririka Hironaka, while Eilish McColgan returns to 12.5-lap action after breaking Paula Radcliffe&rsquo;s British 5000m record with 14:28.55 in Oslo. Two-time NCAA champion Karissa Schweizer is the quickest of the USA&rsquo;s trio (14:26.34 PB from 2020), while Norway's Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal ran 14:47.67 in Oslo and also clocked a non-record eligible 14:39 for 5km on the road in May.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Tokyo Olympics preview: 5000m

Fresh from her heroics at the FBK Games in Hengelo, world record-breaker Sifan Hassan will again take centre stage at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, a Wanda Diamond League meeting, in Florence on Thursday (10).
Dutch world champion Hassan, who improved the global 10,000m record to 29:06.82c on Sunday (pending ratification), will give herself a speed test in the Italian city, stepping down to her other world title distance, the 1500m, where another exceptional challenge awaits.
The other contenders include the Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, also in brilliant form after a commanding win in the 800m at the previous Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha, and the European champion Laura Muir, undefeated outdoors this year at this distance.
But having won the world titles over 10,000m and 1500m a week apart in Doha in 2019, Hassan will fancy her chances at taking this double too.
On the 40th anniversary of Sebastian Coe&rsquo;s monumental world 800m record, also set in Florence, it is fitting that the middle distance events will command the spotlight.
The men&rsquo;s 5000m and 3000m steeplechase also promise to be outstanding races based on the quality of the fields assembled.
Uganda&rsquo;s world 5000m record-breaker Joshua Cheptegei heads a stacked 5000m field that includes seven sub-13-minute men, among them the Ethiopian duo of world champion Muktar Edris and Hagos Gebrhiwet, as well as the Norwegian boy wonder Jakob Ingebrigtsen, European champion but yet to prove he can mix it with the world&rsquo;s very best over this distance. This is his opportunity. 
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Joshua Cheptegei on his way to a world 5000m record in Monaco</div>
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Spain&rsquo;s Mohamed Katir, who was an impressive winner of this event at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Gateshead last month, will also contend.
Cheptegei returns to this distance for the first time since he set the world record in Monaco last year. He has made no secret of his desire to turn his dominance of the clock over 5000m and 10,000m in the past two years, into two Olympic gold medals in Tokyo in August.
The steeplechase line-up is equally formidable, featuring three of the first four from the 2019 World Championships podium from Doha, Kenyan winner Conseslus Kipruto, Morocco&rsquo;s bronze medallist Soufiane El Bakkali and fourth-placed Getnet Wale.
Another athlete who will bring outstanding form to Florence is the world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, who will have her first outing over her preferred distance this year, coming off a dominant display over 100m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Hengelo.
Waiting for her will be the dual world champion Dafne Schippers, world bronze medallist Mujinga Kambundji and the highly-regarded Marie-Josee Ta Lou.
In the men&rsquo;s 100m, Akani Simbine, who inspired South Africa to victory in the 4x100m at the World Athletics Relays in Silesia last month, returns to Europe to take on a field that includes four other sub-10-second performers.
A warm evening in early summer in Italy promises to provide perfect conditions for the sprints, and will give world leader in the 100m hurdles Jasmine Camacho-Quinn every chance of improving her personal best of 12.32 and extending her unbeaten run this year. 
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Jasmine Camacho-Quinn at the 2021 USATF Grand Prix in Eugene</div>
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Olympic 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod is also rounding into form after a 13.08 clocking in Hengelo and will take on world bronze medallist Pascal Martinot-Lagarde.
Following her 54.33 400m hurdles season-opener in Hengelo last weekend, Femke Bol will look to go even quicker in Florence when she takes on Olympic silver medallist Sara Slott Petersen, the winner in Gateshead, and Ukraine&rsquo;s Anna Ryzhykova.
In the men&rsquo;s 400m, world silver medallist Anthony Zambrano takes on Botswana&rsquo;s Isaac Makwala, European champion Matt Hudson-Smith and Italian record-holder Davide Re.
Florence is not only likely to be faster, but higher too, with world-class fields assembled in both the women&rsquo;s pole vault and men&rsquo;s high jump.
The pole vault will feature Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi on the comeback trail from injury where she will face world champion Anzhelika Sidorova and in the in-form Holly Bradshaw.
In the high jump, world champion Mutaz Essar Barshim of Qatar will compete in Europe for the first time in two years, taking on the early season pacesetter Ilya Ivanyuk (2.37m) and the home favourite Gianmarco Tamberi. 
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Mutaz Barshim at the Ready Steady Tokyo meeting</div>
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The only horizontal jump programmed, the women&rsquo;s long jump, will be similarly intriguing as world champion Malaika Mihambo takes on a high-quality field including fellow seven-metre jumpers Chantel Malone and Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanova, two-time world triple jump champion Caterine Ibarguen, world indoor champion Ivana Spanovic and world silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk.
For stronger (to complete the Olympic motto), look to the men&rsquo;s shot put and the women&rsquo;s discus.
New Zealand&rsquo;s 2017 world shot put champion Tom Walsh will face the leading thrower in Europe this season, Poland&rsquo;s Michal Haratyk, who has a best mark of 22.17m this year.
Cuba&rsquo;s world discus champion Yaime Perez will look to extend her unbeaten run this year, taking on the dual Olympic discus champion Sandra Perkovic again after a narrow victory in Hengelo.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Fresh from her heroics at the FBK Games in Hengelo, world record-breaker Sifan Hassan will again take centre stage at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, a Wanda Diamond League meeting, in Florence on Thursday (10).

World record-breakers Hassan and Cheptegei lead distance showcase in Florence

Over the past few years, people have taken note of the rise of Ethiopian steeplechasers.
Although a few Ethiopian women have enjoyed moderate success in recent Olympic cycles, until recently the men&rsquo;s steeplechase has been mostly a Kenyan domain. Part of the reason for Ethiopia&rsquo;s delayed success in the men&rsquo;s event &ndash; as compared to the other middle and longer distance events at which they have been so competitive &ndash; has to do with access.
&ldquo;The problem in Ethiopia has been the obstacles,&rdquo; said Teshome Kebede, who has been on a mission to popularise the event in the country and help rear a new generation of Ethiopian steeplechase talent.
Obstacles here are both literal and figurative &ndash; both the economic and physical barriers. &ldquo;The only availability [of hurdles] is in cities &ndash; in Addis Ababa and in some academies.&rdquo;
Kebede has made it his personal mission to develop Ethiopian athletes in the steeplechase, and studied the discipline before going around to regions in the country to recruit potential talent. His early prot&eacute;g&eacute;s include 2019 Diamond League champion Getnet Wale and world silver medallist Lamecha Girma.
Finding new events and opportunities in a place like Ethiopia is crucial, too, because the level of competition in long-distance running events is so high. Making Olympic and World Championship teams in the 10,000m and 5000m can even be harder than bringing home hardware from the championship events. But, as will be evident at the FBK Games in Hengelo on 6 June &ndash; which will be followed two days later by the Ethiopian Olympic track trials &ndash; range and quick adaptation are prerequisites for all Ethiopian hopefuls, regardless of what is already on their resumes.
<h2>Gebere Lij &ndash; a farmer&rsquo;s child</h2>
Wale, in many ways, has been the face of athletic versatility and variability.
He says his athletic and mental assets are derived from the grit and strength of being a gebere lij &ndash; a farmer&rsquo;s child &ndash; growing up in rural Ethiopia. Wale was born in Sek&rsquo;ela, Ethiopia, in the province of Gojjam, which is in the north-western part of the Amhara region, and he grew up helping his parents and six siblings tend to their crops. 
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&ldquo;My parents encouraged me, telling me to be courageous and strong. My father first didn&rsquo;t know anything about sport but when I started he would listen to the radio and hear about Ethiopian athletes. When I started to show some success, he told me I could do less work on the farm, so I could better focus on school and sport. And as much as he could, he would try to buy me some sports clothes to support me.&rdquo;
Wale did not know much about the steeplechase, but Hiwot Ayalew, who just missed the podium in the steeplechase at the London 2012 Olympics, also grew up in Gojjam. As a result, Wale had some rudimentary interests when Kebede paid him a visit.
Seeing potential, Kebede invited Wale to train at the Ethiopian Youth Sport Academy in Addis Ababa &ndash; partially funded by the Ethiopian government to allow athletes in 11 sports to grow and develop &ndash; and hone his skills.
&ldquo;To be honest, I didn&rsquo;t know anything about the steeplechase when I started,&rdquo; Wale said. &ldquo;There is none in the countryside. [Before my first competition] I watched some videos about how to jump over the obstacles and then I went to Addis Ababa to run my first race. But because I&rsquo;m a farmer&rsquo;s child, I was eager to run well and was selected for the national team.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60ba3069a906b67fed469fac.JPG" alt="" width="950" height="619" /> Ethiopian steeplechaser Getnet Wale (&copy; Guillaume Laurent)
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In his first competition abroad, Wale ran at the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz and finished third. Shortly after, the government invested in more barriers and a water pit, making it one of the few places in Ethiopia where steeplechasers can adequately practice.
The next year, while still an U18 athlete, Wale competed at the World Championships in London, where he finished ninth overall. In 2018, he won his second bronze medal at the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. And in 2019, after winning the Diamond League title, he just missed out on the podium at the World Championships in Doha.
But his new training partner, and Kebede&rsquo;s new apprentice, Lamecha Girma, seemed to come out of thin air, and shook the running world.
<h2>Coaching two kings</h2>
Girma, who is from the Asella region of Ethiopia, was focusing on the 1500m at the Tirunesh Dibaba Athletics Club before Kebede brought him, too, north to the Youth Academy to train.
Training alongside Wale, Girma blossomed quickly, with 2019 being a banner year. That year, he won the trial race in Hengelo in 8:08.18 to secure his spot on the World Championships team. And in the final in Doha, he just missed out on a gold medal to Kenyan star Conseslus Kipruto.
Managing two top athletes and training partners can be tough, Kebede admits. &ldquo;What I tell them is to be good athletes they need to support each other, to love each other, to work together, and to care for each other.
&ldquo;Every training session is like a competition between the two of them,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Sometimes, it is difficult to have two kings on a single team. So they love each other but they compete with each other.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60ba3136a906b67fed469faf.JPG" alt="" width="950" height="660" /> Lamecha Girma and his training partners talk to some local children during a training session (&copy; Guillaume Laurent)
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Despite this, the two have become close friends. Not only do they eat and train together, but when they have down days the two sometimes venture out in Addis Ababa, and in pre-pandemic times were known to enjoy rest days at the cinema.
Wale has been keen on offering his insights to Girma who rose so quickly to global success.
&ldquo;Sport needs patience,&rdquo; says Wale of some of the most important insights he has learned. &ldquo;When you are not winning, you need to accept not winning. You will face different problems in sport, but you need to persevere.&rdquo;
Wale, who is keen to soon move up in distance to the 5000m, expects more and more Ethiopian steeplechasers to rise to prominence soon too. Like the other events, and in addition to Girma, &ldquo;there are a lot of reserve runners who are very good. In the future I will expect even better results.&rdquo;
<h2>Running is Teferi&rsquo;s injera</h2>
The reserve runners to whom Wale refers are present in nearly every middle distance and distance event for both Ethiopian men and women. It makes event specialisation and choice a complicated undertaking for athletes, coaches, and selection committees. Many Ethiopian runners have incredible range, but representing the country can be a tricky calculus of measuring not only the international, but the domestic competition.
Senbere Teferi, for example, has excelled in every distance from the 1500m up to the marathon, and slides up and down the distance scale, and between the track, roads, and grass, to compete in nearly every discipline.
At the Oromia Club in Ambo, Ethiopia, where she began running, Teferi focused initially on the 1500m and the 5000m. In 2011, she left Ethiopia for the first time to race the World U18 Championships in France, where she took home the silver medal. But the first time she wore the Ethiopian singlet at the senior stage was at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, where she again finished second. The following year, she represented Ethiopia at the Rio Olympic Games, where she finished fifth in a time of 14:43.75. 
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&ldquo;The 5000m is internal to me,&rdquo; Teferi explains with glee. &ldquo;Why? The first time I represented Ethiopia I was able to win silver. So the 5000m is still inside of me. So I really want to run the 5000m well. That&rsquo;s my interest.&rdquo;
Since then, Teferi has proved she has ability and potential in longer distances as well. In addition to running the 10,000m on the track, where she is one of the top ranked athletes in the world, she has held the half-marathon national record, running 1:05:45 and earning the title of the fastest debut in history. She clearly has potential on the roads, too, shown by her 2:24:11 debut in 2018.
&ldquo;Running comes with two things,&rdquo; Teferi said. &ldquo;Naturally, you have &lsquo;it&rsquo;. The rest comes from training. My ability is natural and comes from inside me. So I can run in the middle distances up to the marathon. This is just natural for me so I am able to run.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60ba31bfa906b67fed469fb2.JPG" alt="" width="950" height="837" /> Ethiopian distance runner Senbere Teferi (&copy; Guillaume Laurent)
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While Teferi no doubt has natural talent, she also is known to be an incredibly meticulous athlete, notorious for stretching for 40 minutes after training, never missing a gym session, and maintaining a varied and calculated diet.
In addition to regularly eating the Ethiopian staple injera, it&rsquo;s how she relates to the sport itself. &ldquo;Running is everything to me,&rdquo; Teferi emphasises, further explaining her tremendous range. &ldquo;Running is my injera. It&rsquo;s my life.&rdquo;
<h2>Trials</h2>
When it comes to a packed trials, few events compare to the distance races that will take place in Hengelo. Although the Ethiopian Athletics Federation can make adjustments following the competition, Ethiopian athletes need to be in world-class shape to show their readiness for the Olympics.
Teferi, Girma, and Wale will be trying to prove themselves worthy of representing Ethiopia at the Tokyo Games, alongside dozens of others. And choosing the correct distance at the right time is a part of that uniquely difficult preparation.
Hannah Borenstein for World Athletics

Over the past few years, people have taken note of the rise of Ethiopian steeplechasers.

The trials and tribulations of being a top Ethiopian distance runner

A few hours south of Addis Ababa, beyond the Oromia region, is the northern most zone of the Southern Region &ndash; Gurage. Here, alongside rolling dark red dirt roads and an abundance of the green endemic enset plant &ndash; known as the &ldquo;false banana&rdquo; &ndash; this population of nearly two million has earned a reputation for being some of the hardest working in Ethiopia. Many Ethiopians respect Gurage people for being business savvy, who skillfully manage the demands of agricultural upkeep and urban commerce between Addis Ababa and the countryside. Selemon Barega, one of the most talented distance runners Ethiopia has ever seen, is a proud Gurage.
&ldquo;In general, my national group is known by trade, they focus on commerce,&rdquo; Barega said. &ldquo;The Gurage nation does not know anything about sport, but the Gurage people, if they start to work at anything, in any field, they become successful. They focus on work.&rdquo;
Barega, who grew up in a rural area with three sisters and four brothers, knew little about sport at an early age. His parents are farmers, and encouraged him to get an education, and because his family lacked a television or radio, he did not know of any Ethiopian legends he could aspire to be like. But rapid success in a local school competition led to another victory in a zonal race, and him ultimately joining a project nearby.
Projects are common pathways to clubs in Ethiopia, the latter of which provide a small salary and often cover basic living accommodations. Projects, by comparison, offer no financial incentive, but give up-and-comers a reliable group with which to train and grow. Barega joined the Southern Police Club at around the same time as he was offered to join the national team.
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/609a61be1b3b5e6154fcadc7.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="637" /> Selemon Barega in training&nbsp;(&copy; Guillaume Laurent /&nbsp;<a href="https://www.athle.ch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ATHLE.ch</a>) 
 &ldquo;In our area, there was no one running,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;My family members were not fans of running; their aim was only to push me to learn, so even when I joined the club they were not happy. It was not until I began receiving medals that they started to encourage me.&rdquo;
In 2015, before going off to win at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Poland, Barega moved to Addis Ababa, where he learned the history of Ethiopian athletics. &ldquo;When I came to Addis then I heard stories about Kenenisa (Bekele) and saw his videos. I admired him for his speed,&rdquo; he remembers.
Barega&rsquo;s time of 13:21 at the age of 16 shocked the running world and began to inspire a local movement in his hometown. Now young boys all cite him as an inspiration to begin running.
Throughout the next several years Barega&rsquo;s times continued to drop, but he developed racing tactics that have led to countless victories and more importantly, racing conditions in which he always finds himself vying for a top spot. Barega has several registers of speed and seems to effortlessly shift gears in the final laps of a race without his form breaking down. He&rsquo;s a smooth runner, and attributes this to his focus.
&ldquo;Everybody is working hard here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The runners who are good in training sometimes do not perform well in competitions. The big thing is you have to give focus for your work.
&ldquo;For example, with me, I don&rsquo;t think about any other work. I give everything to sport. All of my thoughts are for sport. Also, when it comes to races, sometimes others get scared. But I don&rsquo;t get scared. If I run good, I thank god then I accept and do work, and if I don&rsquo;t win, I see myself weaknesses and I don&rsquo;t get angry. I say, because I work hard, I win, but still, it&rsquo;s not enough. I think that I can do more than this.&rdquo;
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(&copy; Guillaume Laurent /&nbsp;<a href="https://www.athle.ch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ATHLE.ch</a>)
 Despite being a fierce competitor, Barega is known as a humble, soft-mannered and gentle companion to most of his compatriots and family members. After getting some success and moving to Addis Ababa, he bought a car and a house, and asked two of his brothers, one cousin and a sister to move in with him.
His younger brother is now starting to train seriously and the others take care of the house. His sister makes a special type of kocho &ndash; a thick and dark flat bread made with the aforementioned enset plant &ndash; to eat with his favorite kitfo &ndash; minced raw beef &ndash; which fuels his training. Even though he financially supports his family, he sees them as caretakers to provide him necessary sustenance and morale.
In the future, Barega has big plans for how he would like to give back to the Gurage people, who he sees as having a lot of potential but lacking infrastructure and materials. &ldquo;There is one club there, but they don&rsquo;t even have a track,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Up until now I have not really supported them financially, only giving them morale. But if I can do something more for that area in the future like giving them clothes and facility, I will be happy.&rdquo;
But for now, Barega remains singularly focused on his training, with lofty goals about winning more medals for Ethiopia. He is currently coached by Hussein Shibo, who has helped bring athletes like Derartu Tulu, Haile Gebrselassie, Fatuma Roba, Kenenisa Bekele, and others, to global prominence. Within Ethiopia, Shibo is known as a &ldquo;hunter,&rdquo; because he&rsquo;s a fierce recruiter of both talent and medals. He&rsquo;s known for adapting to athletes&rsquo; training strengths and styles, rather than the other way around.
He remains focused on the 5000m and 10,000m races, with an eye looking to the roads for the future. But the 5000m and 10,000m, he has explained, are central to the culture of running in Ethiopia. And winning races are his central concerns. But for Barega, what remains crystal clear is no matter which event he runs, he will work extremely, exceptionally, hard.
Hannah Borenstein for World Athletics

Many Ethiopians respect Gurage people for being business savvy, who skillfully manage the demands of agricultural upkeep and urban commerce between Addis Ababa and the countryside. Selemon Barega, one of the most talented distance runners Ethiopia has ever seen, is a proud Gurage.

Barega’s success, built on hard work and determination

World high jump champion Mutaz Barshim will make his first appearance outside of his home country for two years at the Ready Steady Tokyo meeting, part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series, in the Japanese capital on Sunday (9).
And what better way for the Qatari high jumper to assess his form ahead of the Tokyo Olympics than by competing at the official test event for the Games. And the presence of Japan&rsquo;s top three high jumpers will ensure the competition is a genuine test for Barshim.
Since retaining his world title in sensational style in Doha at the end of 2019, Barshim has competed just once, leaping 2.25m in Doha in March this year. This weekend&rsquo;s competition will be his first in Japan for almost a decade; the last time he competed there was at the 2011 Asian Championships in Kobe, which he won with 2.35m.
He may need to jump somewhere in that region again on Sunday if he is to win as he&rsquo;ll be up against Japanese indoor record-holder Naoto Tobe, 2020 national champion Tomohiro Shinno who jumped 2.31m last year, and 2015 Asian champion Takashi Eto, who won in Fukuroi earlier this month with 2.30m, beating Tobe and Eto.
It&rsquo;s not just the high jump that will feature the very best Japanese athletes. Both sprint hurdles races will be high-quality affairs with a high likelihood of records being broken.
Taioh Kanai is fresh from smashing the Japanese 110m hurdles record with 13.16 in Hiroshima at the end of April, moving him to second place on the Asian all-time list. But former national record-holder Shunya Takayama and national indoor record-holder Shunsuke Izumiya are also in the line-up for Sunday, as is Asian Games silver medallist Chen Kuei-Ju of Chinese Taipei. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/d4248ece-cb99-4bb2-b5ad-d1b64708b824.jpg?cachebuster=90d53583-e044-4f46-bd96-b31d2e2e8b9c" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
 Asuka Terada, who reduced her national 100m hurdles record to 12.96 in Hiroshima, will also be in action. She&rsquo;ll take on Japanese compatriot Masumi Aoki, who last year ran a marginally wind-aided 12.87, the fastest performance ever achieved by a Japanese woman in any conditions.
When Lalu Muhammad Zohri last raced in Japan, he was rewarded with a 100m national record of 10.03. The world U20 champion from Indonesia has competed sparingly since then, but he hopes to be in contention this weekend when he lines up alongside Japanese sub-10-second sprinters Yuki Koike and Yoshihide Kiryu. Olympic 4x100m silver medallist Aska Cambridge and 2017 world champion Justin Gatlin are also in the field.
Shotaro Shiroyama, who in 2019 set a Japanese long jump record of 8.40m, will take on world U20 champion Yuki Hashioka, Australia&rsquo;s 2012 world indoor silver medallist Henry Frayne, Japanese champion Hibiki Tsuha, Asian Games bronze medallist Sapwaturahman of Indonesia, and Daiki Oda. The latter scored a narrow victory over Hashioka in Hiroshima last month, but Hashioka had a foul that looked to be well beyond eight metres. If he gets his run-up right this weekend, he could improve on his PB of 8.32m.
The men&rsquo;s javelin also has a strong domestic line-up. Takuto Kominami, who recently set a PB of 82.52m to win in Hiroshima, will take on Olympic finalist Ryohei Arai and Genki Dean, who last year got within 23 centimetres of his PB when winning with 84.05m at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in the same Tokyo Olympic Stadium. Chinese Taipei&rsquo;s 2015 Asian champion Huang Shih-Feng, an 86.64m thrower at his best, is also in the field.
Yuka Sato, who threw a season&rsquo;s best of 61.01m last month, is the top athlete entered for the women&rsquo;s javelin.
Hitomi Niiya, who has set Japanese records for 10,000m and the half marathon in recent years, will be stepping down in distance to the 5000m where she&rsquo;ll take on rising star Ririka Hironaka and Kenyan teenager Teresiah Muthoni, who won in Hiroshima last month in a PB of 15:06.76. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/26adf94d-fb3e-4ee2-bc83-c1b75ea9ccee.jpg?cachebuster=8d25df48-e917-40ae-8d93-93a5988cddd8" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
 The men&rsquo;s 5000m looks to be similarly competitive. Kenya&rsquo;s Cleophas Kandie, the 2017 world U18 steeplechase silver medallist, will be buoyed by his 27:43.07 run over 10,000m at the start of this week. Kenya's 2016 world half marathon silver medallist Bedan Karoki and 2020 Japanese champion Yuta Bando should also be in the mix, likewise Takashi Ichida, who has set PBs of 27:54.45 for 10,000m and 1:00:19 for the half marathon so far this year. Promising teenagers Yamato Yoshii and Kosuke Ishida will also be looking to produce a fast time.
World U20 3000m champion Nozomi Tanaka returns to the venue where she set a Japanese 1500m record last year. The 21-year-old will once again contest the metric mile where she&rsquo;ll face Kenyan duo Hellen Lobun and Cynthia Mbaire.
Philemon Ruto, who won in Hiroshima last month, leads the men's steeplechase field. Japanese U20 runner Ryuji Miura, who came within half a second of breaking the national senior record last year, will be hopeful of coming away with a PB &ndash; and possibly a national record.
In the women&rsquo;s event, meanwhile, 2014 Commonwealth bronze medallist Joan Chepkemoi will contest her first steeplechase race in almost three years. The Kenyan has a best of 9:20.22, but if she's a bit race-rusty over the barriers, Japan&rsquo;s Reimi Yoshimura could provide a challenge to Chepkemoi.
Three of Japan&rsquo;s 4x400m team members from the recent World Athletics Relays Silesia 21 &ndash; Rikuya Ito, Kaito Kawabata and Kentaro Sato &ndash; will contest the individual 400m here, where they&rsquo;ll face Britain&rsquo;s Rabah Yousif.
And in the 400m hurdles, Asian silver medallist Chen Chieh of Chinese Taipei takes on Japanese champion Takatoshi Abe and Brazil&rsquo;s Mahau Suguimati.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

World high jump champion Mutaz Barshim will make his first appearance outside of his home country for two years at the Ready Steady Tokyo meeting, part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series, in the Japanese capital on Sunday (9).

Barshim ready for return to international action in Tokyo

When Nicholas Kimeli looks back on 2020, he is under no illusion how fortunate he has been to have such a successful season during the most unexpected of years.
&ldquo;I have a great job,&rdquo; he said recently, not long after pacing Joshua Cheptegei to a world 10,000m record in Valencia in October.
&ldquo;I have been everywhere. I have met great people like the President; people I never thought I would meet in life.&rdquo;
Kimeli&rsquo;s outing in Valencia, the City of Running, was a particularly good one as the world record mission was accomplished. &ldquo;We did our best and we&rsquo;re happy that we achieved our target,&rdquo; he said, his face beaming with pride.
Kimeli was instructed to lead Cheptegei for 5000-6000m and then drop out. After going through half way in 13:08, Kimeli dropped back but finished the race in 27:12.98. Cheptegei, meanwhile, went on to break the world record with 26:11.00.
&ldquo;It was not about fighting, but finishing the race,&rdquo; said Kimeli. &ldquo;If you drop out of one race, it then becomes easy for your mind to convince you to drop out of another race when things get hard.&rdquo;
Twice this year Kimeli has been part of athletics history. Two months before the 10,000m race in Valencia, Kimeli had finished second to Cheptegei over 5000m in Monaco in a PB of 12:51.78 as the Ugandan star won in a world record of 12:35.36. Kimeli&rsquo;s manager Michel Boeting described it as a &ldquo;mature and brave&rdquo; race.
Despite a less-than-ideal preparation due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kimeli enjoyed a strong 2020 season. Along with his runner-up finishes to Cheptegei, Kimeli was victorious over 10,000m in Lieden, clocking a PB of 26:58.97, and over 5000m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Nairobi, running 13:08.32 at altitude. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6ff18c8f-4e58-4544-b844-52a4b7a003a8.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="676" /> Nicholas Kimeli on his way to winning the 5000m in Nairobi (organisers) 
&nbsp;
&ldquo;We were training without knowing where we were going to race,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m thankful I was able to compete this year.&rdquo;
Up until March, Kimeli still had his sights set on the African Cross Country Championships at the start of the year, but then Covid-19 struck and lockdowns took effect. With training camps closed and races cancelled, Kimeli lost focus and his hopes were dashed.
&ldquo;By June, I didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d be able to set a personal best or a world lead or even run under 27 minutes in 10,000m,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was training alone; my routine became fartlek and farming. I was training to maintain my fitness so as to not get fat.&rdquo;
Fortunately, some top-level meetings were able to take place in the second half of the year and Kimeli was inspired to get back into racing shape.
&ldquo;Three days before I was due to travel in Monaco, I still didn&rsquo;t have a visa. It eventually got sorted and it ended up being my best race of the season. My second-best race was at the Kip Keino classic in Nairobi. I was happy to perform at home and I was not expecting to run under 13:13 in Nairobi.&rdquo;
Off the back of his 2020 performances, 22-year-old Kimeli is now confident he can break 12:50 for 5000m next year. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/5fef48db19456b51e7401af2.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" /> Nicholas Kimeli talks to reporters after winning the Discovery Kenya Cross Country in Eldoret (Getty Images)
<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
<h2>A story for every race</h2>
Kimeli grew up in Kaptale, in Kapkitui village, Nandi County. He is the second-last born in a family of eight children; three boys and five girls. His brother Eliud Kimeli, a Kenya Defence Force soldier since 2009, is the only family member involved in athletics.
Kimeli&rsquo;s parents were farmers and they provided for Kimeli and his siblings the basic needs of education (primary) and food. They ensured their children never went to bed hungry.
&ldquo;My life was not easy, but our parents tried,&rdquo; says Kimeli. &ldquo;They showed us the way, instilled discipline, emphasised the importance of good character, loving people and going to church.&rdquo;
Athletics wasn&rsquo;t Kimeli&rsquo;s first love &ndash; volleyball was.
&ldquo;I was a good booster; I was a good spiker also,&rdquo; said Kimeli, who played a lot of volleyball in primary school and still likes to play now when he has some free time. &ldquo;I really liked it and I represented my school at the provincial level. I did well in volleyball, and even now I really miss it.&rdquo;
But things didn&rsquo;t work out in volleyball. &ldquo;They replaced me with someone who was better than me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And then I came to discover that in athletics, it is you alone.&rdquo;
He went to Kekiptir Primary School until class six when he moved to Iten to stay with his elder brother. Unsurprisingly, it was during his time at Iten Primary School that he was exposed more to athletics.
At the Primary School Games, one of his first big competitions, he won bronze over 5000m. He would also compete at the annual Ndalat Gaa Cross Country, starting out in the kids&rsquo; race in 2009 and eventually going on to win the senior title in 2017.
&ldquo;I earned some money &ndash; 10,000 shillings (US$100) &ndash; when I won,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;I gave some to my parents, and then I bought shoes and a tracksuit to help me progress in athletics. I saved the remainder.&rdquo;
He didn&rsquo;t always have running shoes, so to raise the 300 shillings (US$3) required for a pair, he started rearing chickens. He was eventually able to pay for shoes, t-shirt and a tracksuit.
In 2014, armed with a folder and having just graduated from primary school, he met his manager Michel Boeting.
&ldquo;He had brought every certificate he ever got from competing in school competitions, his school papers and birth certificate,&rdquo; recalls Boeting. &ldquo;He had a story for every race.&rdquo;
Kimeli preferred training camps to school. Even so, in 2015 he joined St Francis High School in Kimuron, the same school David Rudisha attended, and he competed at the East Africa Secondary Schools competitions. The school and running requirements never matched, Boeting said.
&ldquo;The real low was him getting into an argument with the cook over the amount of food served,&rdquo; said Boeting. &ldquo;And this was after he had sneaked out of school for a competition he was not released for.&rdquo;
High school wasn&rsquo;t a smooth ride for years and Kimeli&rsquo;s educational journey ended in 2017 at a different school.
For Boeting, though, each year provided another glimpse of Kimeli&rsquo;s raw ability. And in 2018 they began to polish that talent when Kimeli joined the Adidas Camp in Iten, managed by legendary coach Brother Colm O'Connell.
&ldquo;We were supported without paying anything, the food was provided by Brother Colm,&rdquo; said Kimeli. &ldquo;They help athletes from schools or from low-income backgrounds like mine, so I really appreciate the support they have given me since I was young athlete.
While still studying at school, Kimeli would go for morning and evening runs. &ldquo;I was trying to work hard so that I could improve my life,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was difficult, but I tried.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/5fef48800d7bd061500d9999.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" /> Nicholas Kimeli leads the 5000m at the Diamond League meeting in London (AFP / Getty Images)
<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
<h2>International breakthrough</h2>
His first competition for Kenya was the 2017 African U20 Championships in Tlemcen, Algeria, where he won gold in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5000m. One year later, in his first season as a senior, he competed at the Commonwealth Games, and in 2019 he finished eighth in the 5000m at the World Championships in Doha.
&ldquo;I miscalculated the race in Doha,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I stayed at the back and I could not make it to the front in good time. By the time I realised, it was too late to respond.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/eb254f7b-b236-4144-8892-9e1d4f62d100.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" /> Nicholas Kimeli in action at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 (AFP / Getty Images)
&nbsp;
Having previously played team sports, Kimeli knows that he is the only person accountable when it comes to an individual sport such as athletics.
&ldquo;I run for myself, not a team,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;When I fail, it is on me. It&rsquo;s not like a team sport where, if you fail, the team turns on you.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s clear that athletics is important to Kimeli. It&rsquo;s his calling, he says as he sips a cup of latte. Having established himself as one of the best in the world this year, his next aim is to build his profile and put his name out there alongside some of the greats in athletics.
For now, there is plenty of greatness surrounding Kimeli at his training base in Kaptagat in the form of Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamworor.
&ldquo;I look up to Eliud Kipchoge because he advises and encourages us that we will make it,&rdquo; says Kimeli. &ldquo;We are there with him in camp. I&rsquo;m also friends with Joshua Cheptegei, Rhonex Kipruto, Geoffrey Kamworor and others.&rdquo;
Like Kipchoge and Kamworor have done, Kimeli hopes to one day move up to the marathon and to race the London Marathon. His ultimate aspiration, though, is to win Olympic and World Championships medals on the track.
&ldquo;Maybe the medal will come in Tokyo or in 2022 at the World Athletics Championships,&rdquo; said Kimeli. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m hopeful that it will happen in Tokyo.&rdquo;

When Nicholas Kimeli looks back on 2020, he is under no illusion how fortunate he has been to have such a successful season during the most unexpected of years.

Inspired by pacing and training with stars, Kimeli looks to become one of the greats

Joshua Cheptegei's world 5000m record of 12:35.36 set at the Wanda Diamond League in Monaco on 14 August has been ratified.
The Ugandan, now 24, took two seconds off Kenenisa Bekele&rsquo;s mark of 12:37.35, set on 31 May 2004 in Hengelo. Amazingly, it was Cheptegei&rsquo;s first race since setting a world 5km record on the roads on 16 February, also in Monaco.
Paced through the early stages by Roy Hoornweg (2:31.87 at 1000m) and Matthew Ramsden (5:03.77 at 2000m), Cheptegei, the world cross-country and 10,000m champion, took up the running at half way and continued the metronomic pace, churning out 61-second laps. He passed through 3000m in 7:35.14 and then upped the pace slightly with a 2:30 fourth kilometre.
Having left the rest of the field way behind, he maintained his tempo and eked out another 2:30 split for the final kilometre, bringing him to the finish line in 12:35.36 after a 59.64 final lap.
With his season cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, Cheptegei made no secret of his ambitions to take down's Bekele's record which had stood since the rising star was seven years old, and targeted precisely that in Monaco.
After the race Cheptegei revealed:&nbsp;&ldquo;It took a lot of mind setting to keep being motivated this year because so many people are staying at home but you have to stay motivated. I pushed myself, I had the right staff with me, the right coach. I'm also usually based in Europe, but being based in Uganda with my family was actually great.
&ldquo;If you believe in something, anything is possible," he continued. "Breaking a record was something really difficult, but when you know the right way, it&rsquo;s not difficult anymore. So, the next challenge is to go chase one or two more world records. I would be the happiest person in the world.&rdquo;
On 7 October in Valencia, in his third race of the year, Cheptegei shattered the world record in the 10,000m, clocking 26:11.00, a performance which is now awaiting ratification.
World Athletics

Joshua Cheptegei's world 5000m record of 12:35.36 set at the Wanda Diamond League in Monaco on 14 August has been ratified.

Ratified: Cheptegei's 5000m world record

The Spanish city of Valencia had never seen an outdoor world record on the track before Wednesday night (7) but within the space of 50 minutes it witnessed not one but two, as Uganda&rsquo;s Joshua Cheptegei and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Letesenbet Gidey went into new territory.
Gidey was the first to go into the annals of athletics history with a stunning 5000m run of 14:06.62 to take more than four seconds off the mark of 14:11.15 by her compatriot and idol Tirunesh Dibaba which had stood since 2008.
Just a few minutes after she had crossed the line, the gun sounded for the start of the 10,000m and Cheptegei reeled off 25 laps in an average of less than 63 seconds apiece to stop the clock in 26:11.00.
Just 54 days after he had taken Kenenisa Bekele&rsquo;s 5000m world record at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco, he removed the last remaining evidence of the phenomenal Ethiopian at the top of distance running&rsquo;s all-time lists by taking 6.53 seconds from his 2005 mark of 26:17.53.
Having returned to his Ugandan training base in Kapchorwa immediately after his Monaco outing, Cheptegei flew into Valencia on Sunday after a sustained period of more than six weeks training, saying on his arrival that it was possibly his best period of preparation for a race in his career.
Australia&rsquo;s Matthew Ramsden took the first stint at the front, with five opening perfectly paced laps before passing the 2000m mark in 5:15.05, already just over a second inside Bekele&rsquo;s split of 5:16.4. Ramsden carried on and went through 3000m in 7:52.79 before handing over to Kenya&rsquo;s Nicolas Kimeli after eight laps.
Kimeli, a sub-13-minute performer for 5000m and the world 10,000m leader prior to Wednesday night, then did an astounding job of continuing the almost metronomic pace, reaching 4000m in 10:29.83 and then the halfway point in 13.07.73, compared to the 13.09.19 split in Bekele&rsquo;s world record, with Cheptegei right on his shoulder. It is also worth remembering that the world record for 5000m was not as fast as the time Kimeli posted until 1981.
Kimeli then carried on around to the finish line with the lap counter showing 12 to go before letting Cheptegei through on the inside, although he was to carry on and finish second in 27:12.98.
Cheptegei appeared to slow slightly in the sixth kilometre without anyone to aid him &ndash; although he did benefit from wavelight pacing on the inside of the track which has now become a feature of many international meetings in recent years &ndash; and he went through 6000m in 15:45.06, just outside Bekele&rsquo;s pace.
But, with what history may look upon as a crucial period in the race, he picked up the pace over the next three laps and passed 7000m in 18:22.00, almost two seconds faster than Bekele at this stage. From this point, Cheptegei seemed reinvigorated and over the final 3000m the gap between himself and his imaginary rival in Bekele just seemed to grow and grow.
Cheptegei reached 8000m in 20:59.48 and 9000m in 23.36.75, more than five and eight seconds faster than Bekele at these respective points in their races, and roared on by the few spectators and officials the Turia Stadium owing to Covid-19 restrictions, he fulfilled his place in history over the last couple of laps before jogging over the line over the final few metres.
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/4cede186-2e63-4b2c-8d19-ef8cf96342fe.jpg?cachebuster=73ff6b26-2490-4b89-952d-b367c4421a0c" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
&ldquo;I wanted to live up to expectations so I&rsquo;m happy to achieve my dream,&rdquo; said Cheptegei, who now becomes the 10th man in history to hold the 5000m and 10,000m world records concurrently. &ldquo;I was trying to remake history so that people will have something to enjoy. Sport lovers of the world can have something to remember.
&ldquo;In this difficult situation, I hope things like this can still give us joy and some hope for tomorrow,&rdquo; he added, with a nod to the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the athletics calendar this year.
However, a month before Covid-19 became known to everyone, back in February <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/joshua-cheptegei-2020-aspirations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cheptegei said in an interview with World Athletics</a> that he wanted to make history in 2020 and he has certainly done that. Every one of his three outings this year has resulted in a world record: 5km on the road in Monaco back in February, 5000m in the same principality on 14 August and now 10,000m in Valencia.
He plans to stay in Spain training in preparation for his next race, the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland on 17 October. Who would bet against him adding a gold medal to the global cross country and 10,000m titles he won in 2019, despite him making his debut over this particular distance?
Gidey became the third successive Ethiopian to hold the 5000m world record following Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba as a prelude to Cheptegei&rsquo;s feat.
Led out by Spain&rsquo;s in-form 1500m champion Esther Guerrero, with 3000m steeplechase world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech also helping out with the pace and Gidey initially bringing up the rear of the trio, 1000m was passed in 2:51.10 before the Spaniard was unable to go much further after a busy season.
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/e46eeccc-b7f9-42e6-835a-2920e2418b03.jpg?cachebuster=6e1232da-7dea-49d7-b9cc-2a05a0ed693d" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
Chepkeoch then did a superb job in the second and third kilometre, passing these checkpoints in 5:42.73 and 8:31.85 before stepping aside.
With five long hard laps still to go, Gidey had almost seven seconds in hand over Dibaba and she didn&rsquo;t squander the advantage.
The clock stopped at 4000m at 11:19.17, nine seconds quicker than Dibaba&rsquo;s 11:28.4, and although Gidey looked to be tiring over the final two circuits, she still managed to turn out two successive 67-second laps to complete her run into the record books, stopping the clock at 14:06.62.
It's little more than five years since Gidey made her first international breakthrough, winning the U20 race at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang. She successfully defended that title two years later, becoming just the fourth woman in history to win back-to-back world U20 cross-country titles.
Later that year, she clocked 14:33.32 for 5000m, moving to second on the world U20 all-time list, and went on to finish 11th at the World Championships in London. Her progress has continued in recent years and she clocked a 5000m PB of 14:23.14 in Rabat in 2018 and an outdoor African 3000m record of 8:20.27 in 2019.
Her medal collection has expanded too. Gidey earned bronze at last year's World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus and went one better at the World Championships in Doha, taking silver in the 10,000m behind Sifan Hassan.
One of her biggest dreams, though, was to break a world record.
&ldquo;I have been dreaming about this (setting a world record) for six years,&rdquo; she said on a night which proved for both her and Joshua Cheptegei that dreams can come true.
Phil Minshull for World Athletics
 *Pending the usual ratification procedure

The Spanish city of Valencia had never seen an outdoor world record on the track before Wednesday night (7) but within the space of 50 minutes it witnessed not one but two, as Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei and Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey went into new territory.

Cheptegei and Gidey break world records in Valencia

Sifan Hassan, Faith Kipyegon and Yomif Kejelcha are among the stars signed up for a middle and long distance meeting set for 10 October at FBK Stadium in the Dutch city of Hengelo.
Organised by Global Sports Communication (GSC), the meeting will provide a select group of world class athletes with an opportunity to compete once more at the end of a season that was heavily restricted by the global Covid-19 pandemic. The programme will feature three events: 1000m and 10,000m races for women and a 5000m race for men.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PGuKwPWTXgk" width="500" height="288" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 Hasan, the reigning world 1500m and 10,000m champion, will contest the longer the distance, taking on Ethiopian rising star Tsehay Gemechu. Hassan, who broke the world record for the one-hour run in Brussels in August, is looking for one last track outing before her attempt to add another world title to her collection at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020 on 17 October.
The women&rsquo;s 1000m features Olympic 1500m Champion Faith Kipyegon who will mount another assault on world record which barely eluded her in Monaco earlier this summer.
The Kenyan&rsquo;s sparkling 2:29.15 run at the Stade Louis II in Monaco put her second on the all-time list, just 0.17 seconds shy Svetlana Masterkova&rsquo;s world record which has stood for 24 years.
In the men's 5000m the focus will fall on Ethiopia&rsquo;s world 10,000m silver medallist Yomif Kejelcha who'll face in-form Australian Stewart McSweyn.
"Our athletes were not done with the season yet," said GSC event manager Ellen van Langen. "They were super motivated for running another race. That&rsquo;s why we had the idea to organise a race ourselves. Where else than Hengelo?&rdquo;&nbsp;
Hans Kloosterman, meeting director for the FBK Games, added: &ldquo;Next year we celebrate the 40th edition of the FBK Games. We expect Covid-19 will still play a role by then. It is great to have the opportunity to organise a professional race within Covid-19 restrictions."
The Wavelight electronic pace-setter will be used to help guide the athletes. Current pandemic restrictions will prohibit spectators, but a broadcast of the meeting will be available via livestream on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGuKwPWTXgk">FBK Games YouTube channel</a>.
Organisers for World Athletics

Sifan Hassan, Faith Kipyegon and Yomif Kejelcha are among the stars signed up for a middle and long distance meeting set for 10 October at FBK Stadium in the Dutch city of Hengelo.