By David Melly
June 30, 2023
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi ran the fifth-fastest 5000m race in history with a 12:40.45 to win the Lausanne Diamond League.
Here’s what you need to know:
– Berihu Aregawi pushed from the front and did much of the work to to pull away from compatriors Hagos Gebrhiwet and Telahun Bekele. World record holder Joshua Cheptegei was the last man to hold on but couldn’t find a last gear to catch Aregawi. The Ugandan star finished second in a season’s best of 12:41.61. Gebrhiwet, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, stamped his return to the 5000m scene with a 12:49.80 for third.
– Aregawi’s final lap was clocked at 55.68s.
– The only men in history ahead of Aregawi on the all-time list are Cheptegei, Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie and Daniel Komen.
– Aregawi was seventh in last year’s world championship final. He holds the 5K road record of 12:49. He earned a silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships in February. He just won the Ethiopian 10,000m trials a week ago.
Our Take
"Aregawi has solidified himself as a contender for a medal. We won’t see reigning world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen running a 5000m before the World Championships but you can assume he’ll be a major player. Cheptegei clearly isn't as sharp as he normally is with a longer stretch of healthy training underneath him, but he still now has two of the 10 fastest 5000m ever run. The only other men with multiple marks on that top-10 list are Haile Gebreselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, which is pretty good company in which to find yourself. His mark also displaces countrymen Jacob Kiplimo's as the fastest non-winning 5000m of all time. With a few more weeks of training under his belt, he's going to be very, very dangerous in Budapest." – David Melly
David Melly
Since David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, he's done a little bit of everything, from podcast hosting to newsletter writing to race commentary. Currently, he coordinates the social media team and manages both the CITIUS MAG newsletter and The Lap Count, supplying hot takes and thoughtful analysis in both short- and long-form. Based on Boston, David breaks up his excessive screen time by training for marathons, crewing trail races, baking sweet desserts, and mixing strong cocktails.
