TOKYO2025: Will Krop finally strike gold after coming close in Eugene and Budapest?
Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 19.09.25. | 07:46
The challengers to the throne including defending champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who returns following a season marked with achilles injury
Kenya's last gold medalist in the men's 5000m at the World Athletics Championships is 51 today.
Benjamin Kipkoech Limo won in 2005 in Helsinki, clocking 13:32.55 to pick what, unbeknownst to many at the time, was Kenya's last title to date, in a distance that the nation had dominated for seven titles before that.
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As the Eugene and Budapest silver and bronze medalist, Jacob Krop, takes to the field on Friday, 19 September, in the men's 5000m, he is hoping to make the Sunday, 21 September final for a chance to end Kenya's wait for gold against a formidable field.
If the trajectory of the Tokyo World Championship is anything to go by when it comes to twists, turns, and jaw-dropping performances, the championship record for the event, 12:52.79, set by two-time Olympic Marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge in 2003, is under threat, if conditions allow, given the number of athletes who have gone quicker.
Krop, a 12:45.71 runner from Brussels 2022, is one of those, but the pressure for the quickest Kenyan, who leads a squad that has Mathew Kipsang (12:58.61) and Cornelius Kemboi (12:57.80), will be on to improve on his last two performances for the elusive first career title.
He is, however, facing tough opposition led by defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who returns following a season marked by an Achilles injury.
In an uninterrupted year, the Norwegian would have been the pre-race favourite for a third consecutive world title in Tokyo, a venue where he claimed the Olympic 1500m title in 2021.
Failing to make the 1500m final on his return since the Indoors has, however, cast doubt on his fitness for the longer distance.
The four-time world champion kicked off the year by winning the 1500m and 3000m titles at the European Indoor Championships, followed two weeks later by the same double at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
An Achilles injury has since interrupted his season and has prevented him from racing outdoors.
Also in contention is double Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher, who earlier this year set world indoor records at 3000m (7:22.91) and 5000m (12:44.09).
Sweden’s Andreas Almgren is another Diamond League (DL) winner heading to Tokyo on the back of a win on home soil in Stockholm, breaking the European record with 12:44.27, and a third-place finish over 3000m at the Final.
France’s Jimmy Gressier will be inspired by his 3000m victory at the Diamond League Final in Zurich.
To date, his highest placing in a global track final was his ninth-place finish over 5000m in 2022.
The Ethiopian squad, tasked with reclaiming the 5000m title they last won in 2019, features two of the fastest athletes of all time: Hagos Gebrhiwet (second) and Yomif Kejelcha (fourth).
Gebrhiwet, the world road 5km champion, placed sixth in Budapest and fifth in Paris last year.
This will be his ninth appearance at an outdoor global championship, and he will be keen to improve on the silver and bronze medals he won in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
Kejelcha is a two-time world indoor champion at 3000m, but has yet to earn a global medal over 5000m.
That said, his form this year has been impressive, with victories at the Diamond League meetings in Monaco and Paris, both times breaking 12:50.
Other podium contender include Britain’s George Mills, Frenchman Yann Schrub, European 10,000m champion Dominic Lobalu, Spanish record holder Thierry Ndikumwenayo, and Belgium's Isaac Kimeli, winner in Lausanne.
Additional reporting by World Athletics
