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Previews29 Aug 2007


Event preview: Men’s 5,000m

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After coming so desperately close to his first World title in the 10,000m final on Monday night, Sileshi Sihine has special reason to want a taste of gold in the men’s 5,000m final on Sunday.

If it wasn’t for his fierce rival and fellow Ethiopian, Kenenisa Bekele, Sihine would be regarded as one of the greatest distance runners of all time. Indeed, he is one of the greatest. It’s just that Bekele’s been greater.

Just look at Sihine’s record at World Championships alone: 2003, 10,000m bronze; 2005, 5,000m silver, 10,000m silver; 2007, 10,000m silver. And that’s without mentioning the silvers he picked up at the Olympics in 2004 and the World Juniors in 2002, both over 10,000m.

The good news for him is that Bekele won’t be in the race this time. And if you disregard the world record-holder, Sihine is the fastest man in the world this year thanks to his victory at the Golden Gala in Rome in 13:01.46. He also holds the fifth fastest time ever.

The bad news is that there’ll be another Bekele on his tail. Tariku, Kenenisa’s younger brother, is seeking to add the senior title to the World Junior gold he won in China last year. Tariku broke the Ethiopian junior record last year when he finished fourth in Rome in 12:53.81.

It won’t all be about Ethiopians, however. The Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge is seeking to regain the title he won in 2003 when he stole the show from Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj. Kipchoge, who was fourth two years ago and Olympic bronze medallist in 2004, finshed second to Sihine in Rome and will be tough to shake off again.

With Isaac Songok and the defending champion Benjamin Limo, Kenya will have a strong presence.

Much attention will be directed to the two non-Africans considered to have a shot at a medal. There's the United States' Bernard Lagat, who’s also running the 5,000m, and Craig Mottram. The Australian took the bronze medal in Helsinki and is hoping to end the African stranglehold on this event that began at the second edition in Rome in 1987.

Mottram beat a clutch of Ethiopians to win in Ostrava in 13:04.97 and clearly has speed in his legs after setting Oceania records at Two Miles outdoors and 3000m indoors this year.

He notched up a notable 3000m victory against Bekele at the World Cup last year, and the Africans will fear his finishing kick. No doubt the Australian will have watched with interest as Sihine was outdone at the end of the 10,000m.

Sihine can only hope it won’t happen yet again or he could be left wishing he’d paid more attention to his manager, Jos Hermens, who implored him before the championships to forget his personal battle with the elder Bekele and concentrate solely on the 5,000m here. We’ll see.

Osaka 2007 News Team/mkb

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