TOKYO2025: Kipsang sole representative as Kenya seeks elusive 5000m title
Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 19.09.25. | 15:15
Kenya last won the title 20 years ago through Benjamin Limo
Mathew Kipchumba Kipsang will carry Kenya’s hopes for the 5000m men’s title, a feat last achieved by 51-year-old Benjamin Kipkoech Limo, who won in Helsinki, 2005, clocking 13:32.55.
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Kipsang made the final, set for Sunday, 21 September, as the nation’s sole representative after compatriot Jacob Krop, the reigning bronze medalist, who was touted as favourite before the race, and national trials winner Cornelius Kemboi, finished outside the eight automatic qualifying places in heat one and two, respectively.
Kipsang clocked 13:13.33 to finish second to Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli (13:13.06) as Cole Hocker placed third (13:13.41) in a race where Krop, a 2022 silver medalist in Eugene, timed 13:28.73 for 14th.
Running in the opening heat, Krop seemed to be in trouble right from the gun, attaching himself to the back of the 20-man starting heat and never making a move to join the eight men who eventually booked their final places.
Olympic champion Hocker, back on track for the longer of his two distances in Tokyo after being disqualified from the 1500m final for jostling, took the lead from the start and controlled the race well.
The American went through the opening 1000m in 2:43.11, as the other Kenyan on the field, a World Athletics Cross Country Tour mainstay at the end of last year, Kipsang, remained in the middle of the pack (2:45.20).
In the next kilometer, Kipsang, realizing that his compatriot, Krop, was in trouble, moved to the front, going through the halfway mark in sixth (6:53.12). The field surged ahead as they hit the 3000m mark, and Kipsang was momentarily swallowed up to tenth.
With 1500m remaining, the 29-year-old made his move, holding on for a second-place finish, in a heat where the reigning 3000m steeplechase silver medalist and multiple Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali did not finish.
In the second heat, Kemboi moved in front in the opening lap, staying with the leading pack in the opening 1500m as Eritrea’s Saymon Amanuel and Grant Fisher exchanged leads ahead.
The Kenyan joined Fisher in the lead, halfway through the race, and was still in contention with the final 1000m left. 200m later, he had been dropped off the automatic qualifying places to ninth, and could not muster the speed to stay on as he clocked 13:45.79 for 12th.
In the second heat, Kemboi moved in front in the opening lap, staying with the leading pack in the opening 1500m as Eritrea’s Saymon Amanuel and Grant Fisher exchanged leads ahead.
The Kenyan joined Fisher in the lead, halfway through the race, and was still in contention with the final 1000m left. 200m later, he had been dropped off the automatic qualifying places to ninth, and could not muster the speed to stay on as he clocked 13:45.79 for 12th.
Ethiopia's Biniam Mehary (13:41.52) and French runner Jimmy Gressier (13:41.64) led the qualification in the heat as the defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen (13:42.15) squeezed in, finishing eighth.
