British 5km record falls to Sam Atkin in Lille
Sam Atkin broke Marc Scott's British record for 5km with 13:16 in Lille on Sunday (March 19). Finishing sixth in a race won by Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha in 12:50, Atkin stormed through the finish line in France to take four seconds off Scott's mark.
Scott ran 13:20 when he won one of the Podium events in Barrowford in 2020, but here in Lille the 30-year-old Atkin found himself chasing three Ethiopians and two Kenyans home.
Kejelcha, a two-time world indoor 3000m champion and world indoor mile record-holder, missed Berihu Aregawi's world record, set in Herzogenaurach last year, by just one second.
Kejelcha drew away from his rivals mid-race to win comfortably as Kenya's Reynold Cheruiyot Kipkorir was second in 13:04 with Ethiopia's Telahun Haile Bekele third in 13:07.
The US-based Atkin has posted a spate of fast times in the last couple of years such as 13:03.64 for 5000m indoors, 27:26.58 for 10,000m and an outright UK 3000m record of 7:31.97 set indoors in Boston in January.
On a busy day for road racing with marathons in Rome, Barcelona and Seoul, plus the NYC Half, Kenya's Caroline Nyaga won the women's 5km in Lille in 14:35 as she finished narrowly ahead of Ethiopia's Mekides Bekele.
Lille also saw some fast 10km times with Ethiopia's Gemechu Dida clocking 27:12 to win the men's race ahead of Emmanuel Kiprop while Kenya's Dorcas Kimeli ran 30:48 ahead of Mercyline Cherono in the women's category.
Patrick Mosin won the half-marathon in 59:31 from Alfred Barkach’s 59:32 as Emily Chebet, returning from a doping ban, won the women’s race in 67:52.
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UK all-time 5km rankings
13:16 Sam Atkin – Lille, 2023
13:20 Marc Scott – Barrowford, 2020
13:26 Alex Yee – Barrowford, 2020
13:27 Nick Goolab – Monaco, 2020
13:30 Rob Denmark – Dublin, 1996
13:30 Mohamed Farah – Stranorlar, 2006
13:31 Mike McLeod – Newcastle, 1984
13:31 Keith Cullen – Dublin, 1996
13:32 David Lewis – Newcastle, 1984
13:33 Eamonn Martin – Newcastle, 1985
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