IAAF World Championships: Meseret Defar claims the 5000m crown

Meseret Defar

Reigning Olympic champion Meseret Defar waited till the very end before sprinting away from fellow Ethiopian Almaz Ayana and Kenyan runner Mercy Cherono to clinch victory in the women’s 5000m race at the IAAF World Athletic Championships in Moscow.

The 29-year-old made up for her misses in 2009 and 2011 with a convincing performance to reclaim the Gold medal she last won in 2007. Ayana was in front for much of the race, but she was spent on final stretch enabling Chirono to snatch silver. Defar finished the race in 14:50.19, three hundredths of a second ahead of the Kenyan who went past the line in 14:50.22. Ayana settled for bronze with a timing of 14:50.33

With the Ethiopian administration intervening to prevent Tirunesh Dibaba and Defar battling for the long distance double, Dibaba gave the 5000m a miss after winning the 10000m earlier in the championships. Nine minutes into the race Ayana took the wheel setting a healthy pace at the front.

The pack was already split but the five women from Africa still had a pair of Americans and a Dutch woman labouring hard to keep them company. The last of the pretenders were dropped away around the 11 minute mark when the three Ethiopians – Ayana, Defar and Buze Diriba were joined by the two Kenyans – Chirono and Viola Kibiwot. The contenders worked together to open up a sizeable gap over the others.

The race took a decisive turn with about 600m left to the tape. Even as Ayana continued to manage her brutal workload to sustain her advantage, Defar made her move. The two time Olympic champion upped the pace with a beastly final thrust that saw her separate herself from Ayana and Chirono. With neither Chirono nor Ayana having the legs needed to challenge the pace of Defar, their battle turned into a tussle for Silver.

Just meters from the finish line, Chirono managed one final effort to surge past a tiring Ayana to steal Silver from the valiant Ethiopian woman who had to console herself with third place. Kibiwot was expected to challenge Defar but never managed to match the pace of the women in front of her at any stage during the race. The Kenyan came fourth nearly ten seconds behind the women who made the podium.

Result:

Meseret Defar 14:50.19

Mercy Cherono 14:51.22

Almaz Ayana 14:51.33

Viola Jelagat Kibiwot 15:01.67

Buze Diriba 15:05.38

Molly Huddle 15:05.73

Shannon Rowbury 15:06.10 SB

Susan Kuijken 15:14.70