Elvan Abeylegesse emerged from to the distance running elite with her surprise 5000m win here last year. This year, she returned as the World record holder in the event to successfully defend her title.
The 22-year-old Turk burst from the lead pack of five with 220 metres remaining to win in 14:59.19, edging Olympic silver medallist Isabella Ochichi by nearly three-tenths of a second.
Following her disappointing 12th and eight place showings in then Athens 5000 and 1500, the petite Ethiopian-born Abeylegesse was almost forgotten in the season's late stages, despite her early-season heroics before her 14:24.68 World record run. Here, she gave her rivals something to remember her by as the season draws to a close.
Kathy Butler jumped to an unusually strong lead in the opening couple laps as she opened a seven second gap on the field just a minute into the race. But the chase pack, led by Ochichi and Ejegayehu Dibaba, caught her less than two laps later. In single file behind the lead pair were Werknesh Kidane, Abeylegesse and Kenyan Edith Masai.
Little changed for the remainder of the race. The order remained the same as the five-woman pack reached the bell, until the Turk surged past Ochichi, with E. Dibaba, the 10,000m Olympic silver medallist, giving chase. Off the turn, it momentarily appeared that the Ethiopian would pass Abeylegesse, but the Turk held firm, not surrendering any of her two-metre lead. Ochichi, who led most of the race, regrouped to find enough in the tank to overtake Dibaba for second. Dibaba reached the line third in 14:59.52, ahead of Masai's 14:59.95 for fourth. Werknesh Kidane, fourth in the Olympic 10,000, was fifth here in 15:01.27.
Tirunesh Dibaba, the Olympic bronze medallist at the distance, did not start.
BR