2012 Paris Diamond League - Meeting Areva

The Year of the Deep Dish - Paris 5000 meters

Jul 6, 2012 by Justin Britton

"We gotta just keep diggin'!"- Gebremsekel, maybe.

It looks to be that breaking the 13 minute barrier in the 5,000 isn't even a big deal anymore, after seeing yesterday's escapade in The City of Love, Paris. At the 7th stop on the Diamond League circuit we saw the deepest Men's 5,000m field ever...ever! Six guys ran under 12:50 and none of those guys carried the last name Bekele which is already uncanny. Aside from the fact that a boat load of people smashed 12:50, Hagos Gebrhiwet from Ethiopia, annihlated the World Junior Record (formerly held by Eliud Kipchoge) by 6 seconds, running 12:47.53! The winner of the race was Dejen Gebremsekel, the man who outkicked Mo Farah in Boston with one shoe, who ran nearly a 7 second PR in 12:46.81.

We have to rewind our pocket watches back to July 28th, 2007. It's been almost 5 years since we've seen someone break the 12:50 barrier in the 5,000 and today 6 Men (well 1 Junior) breezed right past it. The press conferences leading into this Eiffel Tower showdown had mentioned that the pace setters were to bring along the pack at 12:50 pace. Well there must have been a loss in translation because that went out the window.

2 Ethiopian names you should now be familiar with: Dejen Gebremsekel and the young junior, Hagos Gebrhiwet (try saying those backwards it might be easier). If you didn't see the race, it came down to a all out sprint between the 2, in which Gebremsekel got the nudge for the victory. But the madness didn't just end there, on their heels was Isaiah Koech, the Kenyan champ in 12:48.64, another Ethiopian in 4th Yenew Alamirew (22y/o), Thomas Longosiwa (Kenyan trials runner-up) 12:49.04 and Kenyan, John Kipkoech 12:49.50.

The first list below are the insane in the membrane results from Paris, July 6th 2012. Other than mentioning the 6 men that ran a blistering pace, John Kipkoech only ran 13:06 in early June at Pre and surely flipped the switch in Paris, as well as Yenew Alamirew, who came into this race with a PR of 13:00 and at the end of the day leaves France 12 seconds faster.

5000 Metres - Meeting Areva Paris Diamond League
Friday, Jul 06, 2012

Official Results - Men - 5000 Metres

Pos	Athlete	Nat	Mark
1	Dejen Gebremeskel	ETH	12:46.81
2	Hagos Gebrhiwet	ETH	12:47.53
3	Isiah Kiplangat Koech	KEN	12:48.64
4	Yenew Alamirew	ETH	12:48.77
5	Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa	KEN	12:49.04
6	John Kipkoech	KEN	12:49.50
7	Tariku Bekele	ETH	12:54.13
8	Eliud Kipchoge	KEN	12:55.34
9	Kenenisa Bekele	ETH	12:55.79
10	Edwin Cheruiyot Soi	KEN	12:55.99
11	Moses Ndiema Masai	KEN	12:59.21

The second list is of the top times during 2007 when we last saw the 12:50 barrier broken. During this year only 8 guys ran under the 13 minute barrier and then you compare that to Paris where we saw 11 guys run that on one track.

2007 World Leading Marks for 5000m

	Athlete	Nation	DOB	Pos	Venue	Date
12:49.53	Kenenisa Bekele	ETH	13/06/1982	1	Zaragoza	28/07/2007
12:50.16	Sileshi Sihine	ETH	09/05/1983	1	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
12:50.38	Eliud Kipchoge	KEN	05/11/1984	2	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
12:50.72	Moses Ndiema Kipsiro	UGA	02/09/1986	3	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
12:51.00	Joseph Ebuya	KEN	20/06/1987	4	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
12:51.95	Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa	KEN	14/01/1982	5	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
12:58.49	Yusuf Kibet Biwott	KEN	12/11/1986	6	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
12:59.63	Abraham Chebii	KEN	23/12/1979	7	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
13:01.46	Sileshi Sihine			1	Roma	13/07/2007
13:01.60	Tariku Bekele	ETH	28/02/1987	8	Bruxelles	14/09/2007
13:02.10	Eliud Kipchoge			2	Roma	13/07/2007

The final list that we show you is the one that shows the Top 15, 5000m times ever, including the results from today in which 6 guys busted there way into the party and are now on it. A record may not have been broken in Paris in relation to the fastest time ever, but history sure was witnissed as the lists were re-written and the oval was being burnt to crisps by the ever-dominant East Africans. The race also produced the fastest 5000 since back in 2005 when Kenesia Bekele ran a dominant 12:40.

Top 15 All-Time 5,000 (including 6 new additions in Paris)

1 12:37.35 WR Kenenisa Bekele Hengelo 31 May 2004
2 12:39.36 Haile Gebrselassie Helsinki 13 Jun 1998
3 12:39.74 NR Daniel Komen Bruxelles 22 Aug 1997
4 12:46.53 Eliud Kipchoge Roma 2 Jul 2004
5 12:46.81 Dejen Gebremeskel Saint-Denis 6 Jul 2012
6 12:47.04 Sileshi Sihine Roma 2 Jul 2004
7 12:47.53 WJR Hagos Gebrhiwet Saint-Denis 6 Jul 2012
8 12:48.64 Isiah Koech Saint-Denis 6 Jul 2012
9 12:48.66 Isaac Songok Zürich 18 Aug 2006
10 12:48.77 Yenew Alamirew Saint-Denis 6 Jul 2012
11 12:48.81 Saif Saeed Shaheen Ostrava 12 Jun 2003
12 12:49.04 Thomas Longosiwa Saint-Denis 6 Jul 2012
13 12:49.28 NR Brahim Lahlafi Bruxelles 25 Aug 2000
14 12:49.50 John Kipkoech Saint-Denis 6 Jul 2012
15 12:49.71 AR Mohammed Mourhit Bruxelles 25 Aug 2000
With a field that was as deep as it was in Paris, it's sort of relieving to the countries other than Ethiopia and Kenya that you're only allowed to enter 3 athletes or else we'd see the purest East African domination ever. Add in Galen Rupp's PR to this mix from the race in Paris and he comes out with an 11th place finish, crazy way to put it into perspective. Prior to this race, we all knew that the odds of Rupp getting a hold of a medal in the 5000 would be a dauting task, but now after seeing these results both Rupp and Lagat will definitely need to be sharpening their skates because it's going to be a rumble in the jungle this summer come London! We can't forget about Farah and whoever else decides to crash the party this Summer, because you can't be too shocked at what will happen while you're eating fish & chips. Good point brought in by the poster, "Home to Millions". Just so people are aware of the number, the Populations of the countries go as follows (might not be exact but they are close!): Ethiopia-> 83 Million People Kenya->40.5 Million People USA->311.5 Million People At the same time though when we look strictly at the numbers and say to our selves, "Self, something seems to be majorly wrong with the United States if they have such a great population but can't put up the staggering times that the East Africans have been showing". Many arguements can be made as to why such is the case, money, desire, altititude, etc..the list can go on and on, as well as looking at the fact that here in the US we are home to the 4 huge sports leagues. The NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA are the top leagues in the world in each of their respective sports. That alone takes a grouping of young whipper snappers and leads them down various paths other than running.