The men's 5000 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place at the Stade de France in Paris, France, with the heats on 7 August and the final on 10 August. This event marked the 26th appearance of the men's 5000 metres in Olympic history. A total of 43 athletes qualified for the competition through entry standards or world rankings.
Summary Field overview Defending champion and world record holder Joshua Cheptegei did not participate in the heats. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning world champion, competed after narrowly missing a medal in the 1500 meters. Ingebrigtsen, known for attempting doubles at major championships, prioritized the 1500 metres but remained a strong contender in the 5000 metres.
From the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, silver medalist Mohammed Ahmed returned, while bronze medalist Paul Chelimo failed to qualify at the U.S. Trials. Other key contenders included Jacob Krop, a 2022 and 2023 World Championship medalist, and world leader Hagos Gebrhiwet, who entered the event in strong form alongside compatriot Yomif Kejelcha. Notably absent was Mohamed Katir, the 2023 World silver medalist, due to a doping-related suspension.
Heats The heats aimed to reduce the field to 16 finalists, with the top eight athletes from each of the two semi-finals advancing. Both heats were marred by incidents involving tightly packed runners.
In the first heat, Mohammed Ahmed fell after contact with another athlete and was unable to recover. A chaotic sprint finish led to multiple falls, including Dominic Lobalu, George Mills, Thierry Ndikumwenayo, and Mike Foppen, with some runners narrowly avoiding the pileup. Despite the disruption, Thomas Fafard hurdled fallen athletes to secure a qualifying spot.
The second heat experienced similar issues during the final sprint. Abdi Nur tripped, causing a domino effect that affected other athletes, including Yann Schrub and Birhanu Balew, though Balew managed to finish the race.
The final Following protests, the referee and Jury of Appeals advanced several affected athletes, resulting in an expanded final field of 22 competitors. However, Abdi Nur and Mohammed Ahmed did not advance.
The final began with Dominic Lobalu setting the early pace, followed by Thierry Ndikumwenayo. The Ethiopian and Kenyan teams adopted uncharacteristically conservative tactics, with key athletes such as Gebrhiwet and Ronald Kwemoi staying at the back early on. As the pace quickened, Addisu Yihune and Biniam Mehary alternated in leading.
With 600 metres remaining, Gebrhiwet surged to the front, opening a significant gap. Jakob Ingebrigtsen responded, moving past his competitors to take the lead with 200 metres to go. From there, Ingebrigtsen extended his lead and claimed the gold medal by a comfortable margin.
Behind him, Kwemoi secured silver after passing Mehary and Gebrhiwet. In a close sprint for the bronze, Grant Fisher surged late to edge out Lobalu and Gebrhiwet at the finish line.
Background The men's 5000 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1912. +Global records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsRecordAthlete (nation)Time (s)LocationDateWorld record12:35.36"All time Top lists – Senior – 5000 Metres men", World Athletics, 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Fontvieille, Monaco14 August 2020Olympic record12:57.82Beijing, China23 August 2008World leading12:36.73"Season Top Lists – Senior 2024 – 5000 Metres men", World Athletics, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Oslo, Norway30 May 2024 +Area records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsArea recordAthlete (nation)Time (s)Africa 12:35.36 Asia 12:51.96Europe 12:45.01North, Central Americaand Caribbean 12:46.96Oceania 12:55.76South America 12:50.58
Qualification
For the men's 5000 metres event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.Sean McAlister, "How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained", Olympics.com, 20 December 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024. 43 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 13:05.00 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.
Results
Round 1 Round 1 was held on 7 August, starting at 11:10 (UTC+2) in the morning."Paris 2024 - Olympic Schedule - Athletics", Olympics.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
Heat 1 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Narve Gilje Nordås14:08.162Hagos Gebrhiwet14:08.183John Heymans14:08.334Jacob Krop14:08.735Edwin Kurgat14:08.766Graham Blanks14:09.067Hugo Hay14:09.228Thomas Fafard14:09.379Jimmy Gressier14:09.9510Egide Ntakarutimana14:11.2911Abdi Waiss14:11.8812Stewart McSweyn14:12.3113Patrick Dever14:13.4814Elzan Bibić14:14.4615Dominic Lobalu14:15.4916Mohammed Ahmed14:15.7617Aron Kifle14:16.7718George Mills14:37.0819Mike Foppen14:37.34Thierry NdikumwenayoAndreas Almgren
Heat 2 Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes1Jakob Ingebrigtsen13:51.592Biniam Mehary13:51.823Isaac Kimeli13:52.184Grant Fisher13:52.445Oscar Chelimo13:52.466Ronald Kwemoi13:52.517Dawit Seare13:52.538Addisu Yihune13:52.629Morgan McDonald13:52.6710Birhanu Balew13:53.1111Yann Schrub13:53.2712Jonas Raess13:55.0413Brian Fay13:55.3514Santiago Catrofe13:56.4015Mohamed Ismail Ibrahim13:57.4716Luis Grijalva13:58.8117Benjamin Flanagan13:59.2318Sam Atkin14:02.4619Abdihamid Nur14:15.00Adel Mechaal
Final The final was held on 10 August, starting at 20:00 (UTC+2) in the evening.
Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes Jakob Ingebrigtsen 13:13.66 Ronald Kwemoi 13:15.04 Grant Fisher 13:15.13 4Dominic Lobalu 13:15.27 5Hagos Gebrhiwet 13:15.32 6Biniam Mehary 13:15.99 7Edwin Kurgat 13:17.18 8Isaac Kimeli 13:18.10 9Graham Blanks 13:18.67 10Jacob Krop 13:18.68 11John Heymans 13:19.25 12Yann Schrub 13:20.63 13Mike Foppen 13:21.56 14Addisu Yihune 13:22.33 15Thierry Ndikumwenayo 13:24.07 16Hugo Hay 13:26.71 17Narve Gilje Nordås 13:31.34 18Stewart McSweyn 13:31.38 19Dawit Seare 13:31.50 20Oscar Chelimo 13:31.56 21George Mills 13:32.32 22Thomas Fafard 13:49.69
References