Perhaps one of the best distance runners of all time, Kenenisa Bekele remains optimistic about his chances of winning the world championship distance double. © www.photorun.net
In the history of the world championships, no athlete has ever succeeded in winning both long-distance track events.
For the second time in his career, Kenenisa Bekele will be trying to be the first person to achieve this Herculean feat. The Ethiopian, who won the 10,000-meter final on Monday, ran in the heats of the 5,000m today—easily winning his race in a relatively pedestrian 13:19.77 minutes. The last time he went for the double distance gold was at the 2003 World Championships in Paris. There, he placed third in the 5,000m. Bekele did achieve the double at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, however.
“I didn’t celebrate much after winning the 10,000m and went to bed early instead. I feel good,” said an optimistic Bekele. In going for the double, he will be trying to rally Ethiopians fans after the upset in the women’s 10,000m. In that race, the surprise winner was the Kenyan Linet Masai of Kenya—Ethiopia’s biggest rival. “If you lose something which you’ve been used to having, you really feel it. The experience has shown us how important it is to have the best people available on the team. It’s tough when someone has to drop out because of injury or some other reason,” Bekele said about the way the women’s 10,000m turned out. “Most Ethiopians will have been disappointed that the gold we expected went missing.” The world champion in the 10,000m has come from the ranks of the Ethiopian women on the last five occasions.
Early in the first heat of the 5,000m, fellow Ethiopian Ali Abdosh lost his shoe and tried to make up the 100m gap between the leaders and himself. By the time he had almost regained contact with leaders, the final kick was on. Abdosh ended up in 13th, but still showed the world his perseverance and courage by not giving up. Behind Bekele, the qualifiers for Sunday’s final included KIMbia’s Matt Tegenkamp (USA/Second in 13:19.87) and the Briton Mo Farah (third in 13:19.94).
The winner of the second heat was Moses Kipsiro of Uganda in 13:22.98. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya/13:23.34) and James Kwalia C’Kurui (Qatar/13:23.57) placed second and third respectively. The defending champion, Bernard Lagat (USA), who won the bronze medal in the 1500m final the previous day, also reached the final, finishing fourth in the same heat in 13:23.73.
In the meantime, it’s been announced that Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain) will not run the marathon on Sunday. The women’s world record holder had arrived in Berlin after a testing her fitness with a race in New York last Sunday—where she easily won a half-marathon. The Briton underwent foot surgery in the spring and the race in New York was her first of the year. Radcliffe will probably prepare to run the New York Marathon at the start of November and perhaps do the World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham on October 11.
