Track: Kenenisa Bekele sets new World Record over 5000m

HENGELO, Holland. - (May 31, 2004) - If there was ever any doubt of the awesome talent of Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, then now would be a good time to join the hordes singing the praises. In a simply stunning 5000m race at the Hengelo Meeting, Bekele delivered a blow to any would be contenders for the Olympic 5000m Title in Athens with a new World Record of 12:37.35.

Many scribes, knew that he was certainly capable of breaking the WR, however the manner in which he went about it was simply staggering.

The race

After sliding through the 1st 3000m in 7:37.34, Bekele went it alone powering away from the rest of the field as though the first 3K was a mere warm-up. The next 2K was covered in a blistering 5:00:01 to glide past the old mark of Haile Gebrselassie's 12:39.36 set in 1998.

Race Breakdown

1000m 56 Kiplak, David (KEN) 2:33.24
2000m 56 Kiplak, David (KEN) 5:05.47
3000m 3 Bekele, Kenenisa (ETH) 7:37.34
4000m 3 Bekele, Kenenisa (ETH) 10:07.93

Positions

1 BEKELE, Kenenisa ETH WR,WL 12:37.35
2 WONDIMU, Mulegeta ETH PB 13:01.28
3 CHENONGE, Hillary KEN 13:08.77
4 SUGUT, Hendrik KEN 13:08.90
5 MOSOP, Moses KEN PB 13:09.68
6 SONGKOK, Boniface KEN 13:09.87
7 MOTTRAM, Craig AUS NR 13:10.47
8 CHEPKOK, Bernard KEN 13:11.07
9 KIPROP TOROITICH, Boniface UGA PB 13:11.46
10 ALEMU, Dagne ETH 13:12.70
11 BITOK, Paul KEN 13:17.22
12 LIMO, Richard KEN 13:21.14
13 ES-SAADI, Ridouan BEL PB 13:24.54
14 SHGYR, Ismaïl FRA 13:25.54
15 JOSEPH, Fabiano TAN 13:30.98
16 COMPERNOLLE, Tom BEL 13:50.36

Eluid Kipchoge of Kenya, who is probably to be Bekele's main opponent for Gold in Athens, turned his attention to the 1500m, which he duly won in 3:33.20, which serves as the fastest time over the distance this year. A remarkable duel awaits us in Athens.

source Time-to-Run