Letesenbet Gidey sets a world 10,000m record in Hengelo (© Global Sports Communication)
As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2021 in each area of the sport.
The series continues with a review of the middle and long distance disciplines.
Women’s 800m
Season top list
1:55.04 | Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene | 21 August |
1:55.88 | Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR | Tokyo | 3 August |
1:56.28 | Rose Mary Almanza 🇨🇺 CUB | Stockholm | 4 July |
1:56.44 | Natoya Goule 🇯🇲 JAM | Stockholm | 4 July |
1:56.67 | Workua Getachew 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
Full season top list
Full indoor season top list
World Athletics rankings
1 | Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR | 1404 |
2 | Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA | 1390 |
3 | Kate Grace 🇺🇸 USA | 1381 |
4 | Natoya Goule 🇯🇲 JAM | 1380 |
5 | Jemma Reekie 🇬🇧 GBR | 1375 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA | 1:55.21 NR |
🥈 | Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR | 1:55.88 NR |
🥉 | Raevyn Rogers 🇺🇸 USA | 1:56.81 PB |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Athing Mu 🇺🇸 USA 1:55.21
Wanda Diamond League: Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR 1:57.98
European Indoor Championships: Keely Hodgkinson 🇬🇧 GBR 2:03.88
South American Championships: Deborah Rodriguez 🇺🇾 URU 2:03.38
World U20 Championships: Ayal Dagnachew 🇪🇹 ETH 2:02.96
Season at a glance
The 800m boasts the winner of the Female Rising Star honour at this year’s World Athletics Awards in the USA’s Athing Mu, but the teenager’s performances mean she has secured incredible success at senior level, too.
Not only did the 19-year-old win the Olympic title in Tokyo, but her 1:55.04 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene was another world-leading performance that improved her own US record. Indoors, she broke the world U20 record for the distance, clocking 1:58.40 in Fayetteville.
Mu achieved three of the four fastest times of the outdoor season, her 1:55.04 in Eugene backed up by 1:55.21 to win in Tokyo and 1:56.07 to claim the US title. It was actually another Female Rising Star nominee and a fellow 19-year-old who was Mu’s closest challenger, with Keely Hodgkinson having broken 2004 Olympic champion Kelly Holmes’ 26-year-old British record with 1:55.88 to secure silver in Tokyo. That performance, and her Diamond Trophy win, helped Hodgkinson to top of the world rankings, ahead of Mu and her fellow US runner Kate Grace. Bronze in Tokyo was claimed by the USA's Raevyn Rogers.
Hodgkinson also set a world indoor U20 record, with 1:59.03 clocked in Austria in January before Mu improved it further a month later.
Also indoors, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay ran a world indoor-leading 1:57.52 to move to ninth on the world indoor all-time list, just five days after breaking the world indoor record in the 1500m.
Cuba’s Rose Mary Almanza improved to 1:56.28 when winning at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting, moving her to third on the outdoor season list, while the USA’s Grace won in Oslo, was second in both Eugene and Zurich, and third in Monaco and Stockholm, to help her rank third for the year.
It was a season of remarkable depth, with 162 sub-two-minute performances achieved outdoors by 52 athletes. The top 100 athletes all achieved 2:01.40 or quicker, which is a record for depth.
Men’s 800m
Season top list
1:42.91 | Nijel Amos 🇧🇼 BOT | Monaco | 9 July |
1:43.04 | Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir 🇰🇪 KEN | Monaco | 9 July |
1:43.17 | Clayton Murphy 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene | 21 June |
1:43.26 | Marco Arop 🇨🇦 CAN | Monaco | 9 July |
1:43.44 | Jesus Tonatiu Lopez 🇲🇽 MEX | Marietta | 9 July |
Full season top list
Full indoor season top list
World Athletics rankings
1 | Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir 🇰🇪 KEN | 1405 |
2 | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich 🇰🇪 KEN | 1398 |
3 | Marco Arop 🇨🇦 CAN | 1361 |
4 | Elliot Giles 🇬🇧 GBR | 1355 |
5 | Wycliffe Kinyamal 🇰🇪 KEN | 1347 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Emmanuel Korir 🇰🇪 KEN | 1:45.06 |
🥈 | Ferguson Rotich 🇰🇪 KEN | 1:45.23 |
🥉 | Patryk Dobek 🇵🇱 POL | 1:45.39 |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Emmanuel Korir 🇰🇪 KEN 1:45.06
Wanda Diamond League: Emmanuel Korir 🇰🇪 KEN 1:44.56
European Indoor Championships: Patryk Dobek 🇵🇱 POL 1:46.81
South American Championships: Thiago Andre 🇧🇷 BRA 1:45.62
World U20 Championships: Emmanuel Wanyonyi 🇰🇪 KEN 1:43.76
Season at a glance
The year started with a bang, with Elliot Giles running 1:43.63 in Torun to improve Sebastian Coe’s British indoor record by more than a second and move to No.2 on the world indoor all-time list. Only Wilson Kipketer, with his 1:42.67 recorded at the 1997 World Indoor Championships, has ever run faster indoors.
A few days earlier, the USA’s world 800m champion Donavan Brazier had run 1:44.21 to take 0.01 off his own North American indoor record and now sits equal fifth on the world indoor all-time list.
Outdoors, it was Botswana’s 2012 Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos who launched himself to the top of the season list with an impressive return to top form. Running 1:42.91 in Monaco, he beat Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir and Canada’s Marco Arop, whose respective times of 1:43.04 and 1:43.26 made them the second and fourth-fastest athletes of the season, the trio split by the USA’s 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Clayton Murphy, who ran 1:43.17 to win the US title.
Come Tokyo, it was Korir’s turn to triumph, as he ran 1:45.06 to pip Ferguson Rotich and lead the first same-nation 1-2 in this event since 1992. It was a fourth consecutive Olympic men’s 800m title for Kenya.
Poland’s Patryk Dobek, who only started racing the 800m this year having previously focused on the 400m hurdles, claimed bronze in 1:45.39, while world leader Amos was eighth.
A total of 14 athletes went sub-1:44 during the outdoor season, with 56 under 1:45 for record depth in the event. That includes Kenya’s 17-year-old Emmanuel Wanyonyi, whose 1:43.76 broke the championship record and secured him the world U20 title in Nairobi, while also placing him joint eighth on the overall season top list.
Women’s 1500m
Season top list
3:51.07 | Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN | Monaco | 9 July |
3:53.60 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | Monaco | 9 July |
3:54.01 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | Chorzow | 20 June |
3:54.50 | Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR | Tokyo | 6 August |
3:56.28 | Freweyni Hailu 🇪🇹 ETH | Monaco | 9 July |
Full season top list
Full indoor season top list
World Athletics rankings
1 | Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN | 1487 |
2 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | 1452 |
3 | Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR | 1407 |
4 | Freweyni Hailu 🇪🇹 ETH | 1382 |
5 | Linden Hall 🇦🇺 AUS | 1362 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN | 3:53.11 OR |
🥈 | Laura Muir 🇬🇧 GBR | 3:54.50 NR |
🥉 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | 3:55.86 |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN 3:53.11
Wanda Diamond League: Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪 KEN 3:58.33
European Indoor Championships: Elise Vanderelst 🇧🇪 BEL 4:18.44
South American Championships: Joselyn Daniely Brea 🇻🇪 VEN 4:15.05
World U20 Championships: Purity Chepkirui 🇰🇪 KEN 4:16.07
Season at a glance
The men’s 800m might have started with a bang, but there was an even bigger explosion in the women’s 1500m as Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay ran 3:53.09 in Lievin to take more than two seconds off the world indoor record set by her compatriot Genzebe Dibaba in Karlsruhe in 2014.
The 24-year-old Tsegay, who claimed world bronze medals indoors in 2016 and outdoors in 2019, would go on to claim a 5000m medal of the same colour at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
In the women’s 1500m in Tokyo it was Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon in control. With a winning time of 3:53.11, Kipyegon set an Olympic record to gain a second gold and become the first athlete since Sebastian Coe in 1980-84 to retain an Olympic 1500m title.
Laura Muir broke the British record of 3:54.50 to secure silver while Sifan Hassan – who was taking on the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m treble in Tokyo – claimed bronze.
Kipyegon might have run an Olympic record, but it wasn’t the fastest time of the season, with the 2017 world champion having made a statement a month earlier when she ran a national record of 3:51.07 to win in Monaco and move to fourth on the world all-time list. Hassan was second in 3:53.60. Three of the season’s top five athletes all ran their quickest outdoor times of 2021 in Monaco, with Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu finishing third in a PB of 3:56.28. Tsegay also ran a PB outdoors, clocking 3:54.01 in Chorzow in June.
The top three times of the outdoor season were all set by Kipyegon, who also won the Eugene Diamond League meeting in 3:53.23, and she leads the world rankings from Hassan, Muir and Hailu, while Australia’s Linden Hall, who improved to 3:59.01 to finish sixth in Tokyo, ranks fifth. That 3:59.01 put Hall 10th on the outdoor season top list and while the 2019 10th best athlete ran 3:58.78, there was record depth when it comes to comparing the top 100 athletes. This outdoor season saw the top 100 all go sub-4:07.90, while the previous best time for that depth was 4:09.06.
Men’s 1500m
Season top list
3:28.28 | Timothy Cheruiyot 🇰🇪 KEN | Monaco | 9 July |
3:28.32 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | Tokyo | 7 August |
3:28.76 | Mohamed Katir 🇪🇸 ESP | Monaco | 9 July |
3:29.05 | Josh Kerr 🇬🇧 GBR | Tokyo | 7 August |
3:29.51 | Stewart McSweyn 🇦🇺 AUS | Monaco | 9 July |
Full season top list
Full indoor season top list
World Athletics rankings
1 | Timothy Cheruiyot 🇰🇪 KEN | 1470 |
2 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | 1461 |
3 | Stewart McSweyn 🇦🇺 AUS | 1406 |
4 | Oliver Hoare 🇦🇺 AUS | 1363 |
5 | Abel Kipsang 🇰🇪 KEN | 1343 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | 3:28.32 OR |
🥈 | Timothy Cheruiyot 🇰🇪 KEN | 3:29.01 |
🥉 | Josh Kerr 🇬🇧 GBR | 3:29.05 PB |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR 3:28.32
Wanda Diamond League: Timothy Cheruiyot 🇰🇪 KEN 3:31.37
European Indoor Championships: Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR 3:37.56
South American Championships: Thiago Andre 🇧🇷 BRA 3:37.92
World U20 Championships: Vincent Kibet Keter 🇰🇪 KEN 3:37.24
Season at a glance
Like in the women’s 1500m, the Monaco Diamond League meeting provided the fastest race of the season in the men’s event, with Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot to the fore. Clocking a PB of 3:28.28 as four men dipped under 3:30, the world champion achieved the fastest time in the world for six years. The performance places him seventh on the world all-time list.
That race led to six of the top 10 times of the season, with Spain’s Mohamed Katir finishing second in a 3:28.76 national record and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen placing third in 3:29.25. Australia’s Stewart McSweyn set an Oceanian record of 3:29.51 in fourth.
While Cheruiyot’s time was to remain the best of the season, Ingebrigtsen was to improve his 2021 best to win the Olympic title. Leading the high-quality race, the then 20-year-old ran an Olympic record of 3:28.32 to also improve his own European record and move to eighth on the all-time list. Cheruiyot ran 3:29.01 for silver, while Britain’s Josh Kerr improved his PB by two-and-a-half seconds to claim bronze in 3:29.05. Afterwards, Cheruiyot – who had won 12 of the pair’s 13 career clashes at that stage – gifted Ingebrigtsen his bracelet.
With the season’s top 100 athletes all running 3:36.81 or faster, it was a record season in terms of depth, improving on the previous best of 3:36.84 from 2012.
Ingebrigtsen had also impressed during the indoor season, setting a world-leading 3:31.80 in Lievin to win by five seconds and improve the European indoor record. That mark puts him fifth on the world indoor all-time list.
Women’s 5000m
Season top list
14:13.32 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
14:14.09 | Ejgayehu Taye 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
14:15.24 | Senbere Teferi 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
14:25.34 | Francine Niyonsaba 🇧🇮 BDI | Brussels | 3 September |
14:26.23 | Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN | Brussels | 3 September |
World Athletics rankings
1 | Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN | 1414 |
2 | Ejgayehu Taye 🇪🇹 ETH | 1395 |
3 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | 1388 |
4 | Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi 🇰🇪 KEN | 1363 |
5 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | 1353 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | 14:36.79 |
🥈 | Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN | 14:38.36 |
🥉 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | 14:38.87 |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED 14:36.79
Wanda Diamond League: Francine Niyonsaba 🇧🇮 BDI 14:28.98
European Indoor Championships (3000m): Amy-Eloise Markovc 🇬🇧 GBR 8:46.43
South American Championships: Edymar Brea 🇻🇪 VEN 15:47.16
World U20 Championships: Mizan Alem 🇪🇹 ETH 16:05.61
Season at a glance
The Olympic final featured five of the world’s 10 fastest ever 5000m women and although Sifan Hassan wasn’t among them, she has proven time and again that she knows how to win on the major stage. She showed it again in Tokyo. Despite having run, and fallen, in the 1500m heats earlier on in the day, she returned to the track 12 hours later to win the 5000m title in 14:36.79 ahead of Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay. The Dutch distance star would go on to claim a second gold in the 10,000m as well as 1500m bronze.
The Ethiopian Olympic Trials in Hengelo hosted the quickest race of the season, with the top three times all clocked at the Blankers-Koen Stadion. They were led by Tsegay’s 14:13.32 – the fifth-fastest time in history. Behind her, Ejgayehu Taye and Senbere Teferi ran 14:14.09 and 14:15.24 respectively, moving them to sixth and seventh on the world all-time list.
The Brussels Diamond League meeting provided the next three top times, with Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba running a national record of 14:25.34 to win ahead of Taye (14:25.63) and Obiri (14:26.23). That third-place finish, together with her win at the Oslo Diamond League and silver medal-winning performance at the Olympic Games, helped two-time world champion Obiri to top of the world rankings ahead of Taye and Hassan.
With three of the top eight outdoor performances of all time recorded in 2021, and with the top 10 athletes running 14:30.32 or faster, it was easily a record year for the event. The previous 10th best athlete's time had been 14:38.64, recorded in 2010, while the 100th best of 15:14.93 compares to the previous record of 15:26.28 from 2016.
As well as securing a top five place on the 5000m season list, Niyonsaba made history over 2000m as she broke the world record for the distance in Zagreb, clocking 5:21.56 to take more than two seconds off the previous record that had been set indoors by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba in Sabadell in 2017.
It wasn’t only during the outdoor season that world 5000m leader Tsegay excelled, with the world and Olympic bronze medallist also topping the indoor season 3000m list with her 8:22.65 run in Madrid. The third-fastest ever time for the distance, it makes her the second-quickest women’s indoor 3000m runner in history.
Men’s 5000m
Season top list
12:48.45 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | Florence | 10 June |
12:49.02 | Hagos Gebrhiwet 🇪🇹 ETH | Florence | 10 June |
12:50.12 | Mohammed Ahmed 🇨🇦 CAN | Florence | 10 June |
12:50.79 | Mohamed Katir 🇪🇸 ESP | Florence | 10 June |
12:51.93 | Justyn Knight 🇨🇦 CAN | Florence | 10 June |
World Athletics rankings
1 | Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA | 1409 |
2 | Mohamed Katir 🇪🇸 ESP | 1385 |
3 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR | 1376 |
4 | Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli 🇰🇪 KEN | 1375 |
5 | Mohammed Ahmed 🇨🇦 CAN | 1359 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA | 12:58.15 |
🥈 | Mohammed Ahmed 🇨🇦 CAN | 12:58.61 |
🥉 | Paul Chelimo 🇺🇸 USA | 12:59.05 SB |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA 12:58.15
Wanda Diamond League: Berihu Aregawi 🇪🇹 ETH 12:58.65
European Indoor Championships (3000m): Jakob Ingebrigtsen 🇳🇴 NOR 7:48.20
South American Championships: Altobeli Silva 🇧🇷 BRA 13:51.81
World U20 Championships: Benson Kiplangat 🇰🇪 KEN 13:20.37
Season at a glance
One week after his silver medal-winning performance in the Olympic 10,000m final, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei went one better to gain 5000m gold, adding another title to his honours that include world 10,000m champion, world cross-country champion and world record-holder.
His 12:58.15 is the second-quickest winning time in Olympic history after Kenenisa Bekele’s Olympic record of 12:57.82 and it saw him beat Canada’s Moh Ahmed, who ran 12:58.61 for silver, and Paul Chelimo, who clocked 12:59.05 for bronze.
That Olympic title win, together with his two mile victory in Eugene in a world-leading 8:09.55 and sixth-place finish in Florence, saw him top the world rankings ahead of Spain’s Mohamed Katir and Norway’s Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
It was Ingebrigtsen who ran the quickest 5000m time of the season, with the then 20-year-old improving his PB by 13 and a half seconds to break the European record and go sub-13 minutes for the first time with 12:48.45 in Florence.
In fact, the season’s top five times were all set in that Florence race, with Ingebrigtsen leading Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:49.02), Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed (12:50.12), Katir (12:50.79) and Canada’s Justyn Knight (12:51.93).
There were 17 sub-13 minute performances this year, one more than in 2019 and 12 more than in the last Olympic year in 2016.
Indoors, steeplechase specialist Getnet Wale just missed Daniel Komen’s long-standing world indoor 3000m record of 7:24.90 when he clocked 7:24.98 in Lievin in February. Before the race, just six men had bettered 7:30 for 3000m indoors, but Wale was followed by Selemon Barega (7:26.10), Lamecha Girma (7:27.98) and Berihu Aregawi (7:29.24), with Wale, Barega and Girma now sitting second, third and sixth respectively on the world all-time list.
Women’s 10,000m
Season top list
29:01.03 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
29:06.82 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | Hengelo | 6 June |
29:39.42 | Gudaf Tsegay 🇪🇹 ETH | Maia | 8 May |
29:50.77 | Kalkidan Gezahegne 🇧🇠BRN | Maia | 8 May |
30:06.01 | Tsigie Gebreselama 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
World Athletics rankings
1 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | 1469 |
2 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | 1407 |
3 | Kalkidan Gezahegne 🇧🇠BRN | 1376 |
4 | Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 KEN | 1355 |
5 | Francine Niyonsaba 🇧🇮 BDI | 1337 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED | 29:55.32 |
🥈 | Kalkidan Gezahegne 🇧🇠BRN | 29:56.18 |
🥉 | Letesenbet Gidey 🇪🇹 ETH | 30:01.72 |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 NED 29:55.32
South American Championships: Edymar Brea 🇻🇪 VEN 34:05.25
Season at a glance
The women's world 10,000m record was improved by a remarkable 16 seconds in 2021, as first Sifan Hassan clocked 29:06.82 and then Letesenbet Gidey ran 29:01.03, both on the same Blankers-Koen Stadion track in Hengelo just two days apart.
Hassan’s performance came at the FBK Games as the home favourite took more than 10 seconds off the world record of 29:17.45 which had been set by Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana at the Olympic Games in Rio.
Gidey, who broke the world 5000m record with 14:06.62 in 2020, then improved the 10,000m mark by another five seconds to win the Ethiopian Trials.
Four of the nine fastest ever 10,000m times were recorded in 2021, with Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay and Bahrain’s Kalkidan Gezahegne running respective times of 29:39.42 and 29:50.77 in Maia.
History was also made in the event at the Olympic Games. In Tokyo, Hassan claimed an unprecedented medal treble as she completed the distance double with 10,000m victory.
After nine days and six races totalling 61 and a quarter laps of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium track, the double world champion ran 29:55.32 to add the 10,000m title to her 5000m gold and 1500m bronze. Using her killer kick, Hassan beat Gezahegne, who clocked 29:56.18 for silver, and Gidey, who ran 30:01.72 for bronze.
Behind the top three a whole host of PBs were set. Kenya’s two-time world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri ran a PB of 30:24.27 in fourth, while Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba ran a national record of 30:41.93 for fifth and Kenya’s Irene Cheptai clocked a PB of 30:44.00 to finish sixth.
A total of 21 athletes bettered 31 minutes in 2021, compared to 16 in 2019 and 14 in 2016. The 100th placed athlete on the season list – the USA’s Molly Grabill with 32:11.61 – went 10 seconds quicker than the previous best for that placing, recorded in 2016.
Men’s 10,000m
Season top list
26:33.93 | Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 UGA | Ostrava | 19 May |
26:49.51 | Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
26:49.73 | Yomif Kejelcha 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
26:50.37 | Berihu Aregawi 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
26:57.16 | Hagos Gebrhiwet 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
World Athletics rankings
1 | Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 UGA | 1360 |
2 | Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA | 1354 |
3 | Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH | 1340 |
4 | Mohammed Ahmed 🇨🇦 CAN | 1305 |
5 | Berihu Aregawi 🇪🇹 ETH | 1296 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH | 27:43.22 |
🥈 | Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬 UGA | 27:43.63 SB |
🥉 | Jacob Kiplimo 🇺🇬 UGA | 27:43.88 |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH 27:43.22
South American Championships: Daniel Do Nascimento 🇧🇷 BRA 29:18.06
Season at a glance
Like in the women’s event, many of the season’s quickest times were run in Hengelo, but it was Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo who ended the year on top thanks to his 26:33.93 PB set in Ostrava. The time took almost a minute off his previous best, which the 21-year-old set at the 2016 World U20 Championships, and moved him to seventh on the world all-time list – a list topped by his compatriot Joshua Cheptegei, who broke the world record with his time of 26:11.00 run in Valencia in 2020.
The pair made history for their country at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, with Cheptegei’s silver and Kiplimo’s bronze marking the first time Uganda had two athletes on the same Olympic podium.
While Cheptegei had been hoping to add the Olympic 10,000m title to his 2019 world gold won in the 25-lap event, it was Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega who secured top honours, clocking 27:43.22 to win ahead of Cheptegei’s 27:43.63 and Kiplimo’s 27:43.88.
Barega had set the second-fastest time of the season when he ran 26:49.51 to win at the Ethiopian Trials in Hengelo in June. In a close finish, he was followed by Yomif Kejelcha (26:49.73), Berihu Aregawi (26:50.37), Hagos Gebrhiwet (26:57.16) and Tadese Worku (26:58.30). At the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, 19-year-old Worku had claimed a medal double, with 3000m gold and 5000m silver.
A total of 144 athletes dipped under 28 minutes for 10,000m in 2021, compared to 80 in 2019 and 90 in 2016.
Women’s 3000m steeplechase
Season top list
8:53.65 | Norah Jeruto 🇰🇪 KEN | Eugene | 21 August |
8:57.77 | Courtney Frerichs 🇺🇸 USA | Eugene | 21 August |
9:00.05 | Hyvin Kiyeng 🇰🇪 KEN | Eugene | 21 August |
9:01.45 | Peruth Chemutai 🇺🇬 UGA | Tokyo | 4 August |
9:02.52 | Mekides Abebe 🇪🇹 ETH | Doha | 28 May |
World Athletics rankings
1 | Norah Jeruto 🇰🇪 KEN | 1433 |
2 | Hyvin Kiyeng 🇰🇪 KEN | 1429 |
3 | Courtney Frerichs 🇺🇸 USA | 1428 |
4 | Mekides Abebe 🇪🇹 ETH | 1400 |
5 | Peruth Chemutai 🇺🇬 UGA | 1380 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Peruth Chemutai 🇺🇬 UGA | 9:01.45 NR |
🥈 | Courtney Frerichs 🇺🇸 USA | 9:04.79 SB |
🥉 | Hyvin Kiyeng 🇰🇪 KEN | 9:05.39 |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Peruth Chemutai 🇺🇬 UGA 9:01.45
Wanda Diamond League: Norah Jeruto 🇰🇪 KEN 9:07.33
South American Championships: Tatiane Raquel da Silva 🇧🇷 BRA 9:38.71
World U20 Championships: Jackline Chepkoech 🇰🇪 KEN 9:27.40
Season at a glance
While she didn’t race at the Olympic Games, Norah Jeruto proved her impressive form at the Eugene Diamond League meeting a few weeks later. Clocking 8:53.65, Jeruto achieved the third-quickest time in history, while the USA’s Olympic silver medallist Courtney Frerichs went sub-9 minutes for the first time with an area record of 8:57.77 to move to fourth on the world all-time list.
Jeruto achieved two of the season’s top four times, as she also ran 9:00.67 to win in Doha, while she claimed the Diamond Trophy with her 9:07.33 win in Zurich. Those performances helped her to top the world rankings ahead of Kenya's Hyvin Kiyeng and Frerichs.
At the Olympics it was Peruth Chemutai – who would go on to finish seventh in Eugene – to triumph, as she timed her peak to perfection.
Running a Ugandan record of 9:01.45, she claimed a surprise first senior major medal, clearly beating Frerichs (9:04.79) and Kiyeng (9:05.39) to the title. With her win, Chemutai became the first Ugandan woman to claim an Olympic medal of any colour in any sport.
The women’s steeplechase was another event with record depth in 2021, with the top 10 athletes running faster that 9:09 and the top 100 clocking 9:45.22 or quicker.
Men’s 3000m steeplechase
Season top list
8:07.12 | Benjamin Kigen 🇰🇪 KEN | Paris | 28 August |
8:07.75 | Lamecha Girma 🇪🇹 ETH | Monaco | 9 July |
8:07.81 | Abraham Kibiwot 🇰🇪 KEN | Monaco | 9 July |
8:08.54 | Soufiane El Bakkali 🇲🇦 MAR | Florence | 10 June |
8:09.37 | Tadese Takele 🇪🇹 ETH | Hengelo | 8 June |
World Athletics rankings
1 | Soufiane El Bakkali 🇲🇦 MAR | 1422 |
2 | Benjamin Kigen 🇰🇪 KEN | 1409 |
3 | Lamecha Girma 🇪🇹 ETH | 1388 |
4 | Abraham Kibiwot 🇰🇪 KEN | 1364 |
5 | Getnet Wale 🇪🇹 ETH | 1343 |
Olympic medallists
🥇 | Soufiane El Bakkali 🇲🇦 MAR | 8:08.90 |
🥈 | Lamecha Girma 🇪🇹 ETH | 8:10.38 |
🥉 | Benjamin Kigen 🇰🇪 KEN | 8:11.45 |
Full results |
Major winners
Olympic Games: Soufiane El Bakkali 🇲🇦 MAR 8:08.90
Wanda Diamond League: Benjamin Kigen 🇰🇪 KEN 8:17.45
South American Championships: Altobeli Silva 🇧🇷 BRA 8:34.17
World U20 Championships: Amos Serem 🇰🇪 KEN 8:30.72
Season at a glance
The Tokyo Olympic final was a momentous occasion for Soufiane El Bakkali as he claimed Morocco’s first Olympic gold medal in 17 years.
Before El Bakkali, the nation’s last champion had been Hicham El Guerrouj, thanks to his 1500m and 5000m double at the 2004 Games in Athens. This time, victory came in the 3000m steeplechase, as El Bakkali clocked 8:08.90 to finish clear ahead of Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma and Kenya’s Benjamin Kigen, adding his Olympic gold to the world silver and bronze medals he had won in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
The result put an end to Kenya's dominance of the event at the Olympics, but Kigen was back on top a few weeks later at the Diamond League meeting in Paris. There he ran a world-leading 8:07.12 to lead a Kenyan cleansweep ahead of Abraham Kibiwott (8:09.35) and Leonard Bett (8:10.21). Kigen also claimed the Diamond Trophy, winning the final in Zurich in 8:17.45, and placed second to leader El Bakkali in the 2021 world rankings.
Girma had gone into the Olympics as the world leader thanks to the 8:07.75 he clocked to win in Monaco, and that remained the second-fastest time of the season.
The number of sub-8:15 athletes in 2021 was 20, compared to 22 in 2019 and 13 in 2016.
World Athletics