World Championships: Men's 5000m
The inaugural championships in Helsinki resulted in an easy win for Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan. Known as “chairman of the boards” because of his virtually unbeatable form indoors, he had finished fourth in the Olympics in the 1976 1500m and 1980 5000m with tactically inept races. However, in Helsinki, he ran a perfect race in a slow-run event with his last kilometre in 2:25.
Dmitriy Dmitriyev, who was second in the 1975 European Junior Championships 1500m, a place ahead of Sebastian Coe, kicked in a vicious 58.2 penultimate lap. The Soviet opened up a 12-metre gap by the bell, but Coghlan caught him down the back straight and began celebrating on the final bend even before he had passed Dmitriyev. He then kicked away and celebrated again down the straight. Behind, Dmitriyev tied up and was passed by Werner Schildhauer and then a dive by Martti Vainio delighted the Finnish home crowd and denied the Soviet athlete a bronze by 0.04.
The sole Briton in the final was Julian Goater, who spurted in the third kilometre and held a five-metre lead at halfway before fading to 14th. Inexplicably at the time – as in the Olympics – there were three rounds of the 5000m but that wasn’t repeated in future world events.
Olympic 5000m champion Said Aouita entered everything from the 800m to 10,000m in Rome in 1987 but settled for just the 5000m and he won with a 52.92 last lap. World cross-country champion John Ngugi won his heat in a championship record 13:22.68 and then led the final at a much slower pace but faded to 12th by the finish. Domingos Castro finished second and his twin brother Dionisio finished eighth. European champion Jack Buckner showed surprising speed to take the bronze as Commonwealth champion Steve Ovett failed to find his usual celebrated kick and finished 10th in his last major championships race.
Yobes Ondieki was the favourite for Tokyo in 1991 after a 13:01.82 run in Zurich before the championships and he underlined his form with 59.88 on the second lap and kept the pressure on with two 60-second laps and a 61-second fifth lap. He was 50m clear at 3000m in 7:46.37 and, although fading badly, he took 2:45 for his last kilometre and held on to win by two seconds from Fita Bayisa in 13:14.45.
Kenya won again in Stuttgart in 1993. The pace was fast throughout and Ismael Kirui picked up the pace further with a 60.21 sixth lap. He went through 3000m in 7:45.62 and was still 40m clear at 4000m. An Ethiopian trio then began to close, but the gap was still 25 metres at the bell. Haile Gebrselassie ran a 56.5 final circuit but fell a few metres short of Kirui, who took 59.59 for his last lap.
Kirui’s time was a world junior record of 13:02.75 and at 18 years and 177 days he became the youngest champion in any event. Gebrselassie won the 10,000m six days later. Rob Denmark finished ninth for the second successive championship and altogether he competed in five world championships.
In Gothenburg in 1995, Kirui defended his title after a close finish, leading for all of the last lap, which took him 56.56.
Kenya won for a fourth successive time in Athens in 1997 despite Kirui going out in the heats. Daniel Komen was a huge favourite after setting a world record of 12:39.74 as well as a two-mile world best of 7:58.61 and Kenyan mile record of 3:46.38. The early pace was slow until a 2:32.12 third kilometre and then Komen blitzed a 57-second lap to go well clear. The gap closed on the last lap, but Komen’s astonishing 7:33.9 final 3000m gave him victory by just under two seconds.
The final in Seville in 1999 was the fastest yet and the first four broke 13 minutes with Moroccan 10,000m world record-setter Salah Hissou winning gold. Kenyan Benjamin Limo sprinted the last 200 metres to nip second with Belgium’s Moroccan born Mohammed Mourhit a close third.
The 2001 race in Edmonton saw a different Limo on the podium and this time it was Richard Limo who won with a strong 55.3 last lap. The favourite, Algerian Ali Saidi-Sief, finished second after a poor last 100 metres but failed a doping test and was disqualified for two years.
The 2003 race in Paris was the greatest final and remains the fastest too. Kenenisa Bekele, who had won the 10,000m, set a fast pace with a 2:31.94 opening kilometre but still had seven runners close at 3km, reached in 7:45.44, and the fourth kilometre was a slow 2:43.02. Hicham El Guerrouj, who was also seeking a second gold in France after his 1500m victory, picked up the pace with a 59.7 penultimate lap. It was then expected to be a race between the two champions, but surprisingly it was 18-year-old Eliud Kipchoge who edged by for victory by four hundredths of a second from the Moroccan in 12:52.79. The first six broke 13 minutes.
The 2005 race in Helsinki was a much slower pace – 42 seconds slower than Paris at 3000m! The finishing speed was impressive though and Benjamin Limo, six years after finishing second in Seville, gave Kenya another victory despite only qualifying for the final as a fastest loser. His last 200m was 25.8 and his final mile 3:58.9! Craig Mottram’s fast finish for third denied defending champion Kipchoge and returning drugs cheat Saidi-Sief a medal.
Kenya had won seven of the past eight world championships and in Osaka a Kenyan-born athlete won again. This time it was Bernard Lagat, who was wearing USA colours and seeking a unique 1500m-5000m double. The pace was even slower than in Helsinki – 3:00.35 for the opening kilometre. No Briton had even been selected for the past two championships, but a young Mo Farah kicked ahead and ran a 58.4 penultimate lap. The last lap was much quicker, though, and Lagat’s 52.3 final lap gave him a narrow win over Kipchoge with Farah clearly the top European in sixth.
Lagat narrowly missed out on defending his title in Berlin. Bekele tried to control the final kilometre from the front and fought off a challenge from Kipchoge down the back straight. Lagat edged ahead briefly in the straight but Bekele battled back and won by two metres.
Farah dropped to seventh in his second final, 2.6 seconds behind the winner, but by Daegu in 2011, he was a double European champion and running at a different level. He had lost the 10,000m a few days earlier after too bold an initial kick, but here in the 5000m he controlled his sprint, taking the lead on the last lap and holding the inside with gradual acceleration.
It was an exciting last 400m and Farah covered it in 52.6 to win by 26 hundredths of a second from Lagat, who became slightly boxed on the last lap. Imane Merga received the bronze medal initially but was adjudged to have stepped inside the track and had to give his award to Ethiopian team-mate Dejen Gebremeskel. Kipchoge finished seventh in his fifth final.
By the time of Moscow in 2013, Farah was a double Olympic champion, had set a European record at 1500m and had already won the 10,000m in Russia. He had to work hard to take the lead in the last kilometre as the Ethiopians tried to disrupt his usual controlling tactics, but a big kick put him ahead and he won an exciting race courtesy of a 53.44 last lap and 2:22.13 final kilometre. Isiah Koech was his nearest challenger over the last lap, but eased off at the line and was caught by Hagos Gebrhiwet, who gained the silver with the same time as the Kenyan.
Year | Winner | Time | Top Brit
1983 Eamonn Coghlan (IRL) 13:28.53 14th Julian Goater 13:48.13 (13:36.21 sf)
1987 Said Aouita (MAR) 13:26.44 3rd Jack Buckner 13:27.74 (13:24.56 ht)
1991 Yobes Ondieki (KEN) 13:14.45 9th Rob Denmark 13:36.24
1993 Ismael Kirui (KEN) 13:02.75 9th Rob Denmark 13:27.09
1995 Ismael Kirui (KEN) 13:16.77 14th John Nuttall 13:49.25 (13:25.18 ht)
1997 Daniel Komen (KEN) 13:07.38 10th heat Keith Cullen 13:42.40
1999 Salah Hissou (MAR) 12:58.13 11th ht Rob Denmark 13:41.28
2001 Richard Limo (KEN) 13:00.77 13th ht Mike Openshaw 14:00.84
2003 Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) 12:52.79 No competitor 2005 Benjamin Limo (KEN) 13:32.55 No competitor
2007 Bernard Lagat (USA) 13:45.87 6th Mo Farah 13:47.54 (13:39.13 ht)
2009 Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 13:17.09 7th Mo Farah 13:19.69
2011 Mo Farah (GBR) 13:23.36 1st Farah (13:38.03 ht)
2013 Mo Farah (GBR) 13:26.98 1st Farah (13:23.93 ht)
Top points (8 for 1st etc)
1. KEN 144
2. ETH 101
3. MAR 74
4. USA 41
5. GBR 29
6. GER 19
7. POR 13
8. UGA 11
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