Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres

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Men's 10,000 metres
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics.png
Olympic Athletics
Venue Japan National Stadium
Date30 July 2021 (final)
Competitors25 from 15 nations
Winning time27:43.22
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Selemon Barega Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia
Silver medal icon.svg Joshua Cheptegei Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
Bronze medal icon.svg Jacob Kiplimo Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
  2016
2024  
Official Video Highlights TV-icon-2.svg
Official Video Highlights

The men's 10,000 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 30 July 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. [1] 25 athletes competed. [2] None of the 2016 medalists took part in the competition. Selemon Barega from Ethiopia won the event by 0.41 seconds, with Ugandans Joshua Cheptegei, the world record holder, and Jacob Kiplimo coming second and third, respectively. All of them won their first Olympic medal.

The medals for the competition were presented by Paul Tergat, Kenya; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Lord Sebastian Coe, United Kingdom; World Athletics President.

Summary

25 athletes started and right from the gun, Ugandan Stephen Kissa went for the lead. No other athlete showed interest in the early breakaway, allowing Kissa to open up as much as a 70 metre gap on the field in the first mile. Employing team tactics similar to bicycle racing, the second Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo held the leading position on the pack while world record holder Joshua Cheptegei cruised along near the back of the pack. After 5 laps, Selemon Barega decided to pull in the breakaway, with Rhonex Kipruto tagging along for the chase. It took them three more laps to bridge the gap.

As they reached contact with Kissa, Kissa accelerated again, opening up a smaller gap. With the peloton following the bridging duo, Barega fell back to the pack with Kipruto continuing to try to chase down Kissa. For the next 7 laps, Kipruto, would pull closer only to have Kissa open up another gap. Finally with 9 laps to go, Kipruto was able to get ahead of Kissa and open a gap of his own over the peloton as a whole. [3] Once passed, Kissa fell back through the field and then walked off the track. [4] Kipruto's gap on the field didn't hold more than two laps, but they continued to indulge him the leading position, pacing the field toward the chess match of the final laps. With just over four laps to go, Cheptegei decided it was time to take the lead.

As they reached three laps, Rodgers Kwemoi challenged for the lead, with Mohammed Ahmed tucked behind the leaders, but still the pack had a dozen runners in contention with two laps to go. As a few fell off the back, Ahmed took the lead down the backstretch, but on the home stretch Barega came forward to lead at the bell. Barega opened up a small gap, chased by the more gangly sprinting of his Ethiopian teammate Berihu Aregawi, indoor mile world record holder Yomif Kejelcha, Kiplimo and Cheptegei. Kejelcha couldn't handle the speed, Ahmed fell back, leaving only the two Ugandans to chase the two Ethiopians. Through the final turn, Kiplimo worked his way past Aregawi. Coming off the turn, Cheptegei also got past and the chase was on down the home stretch. Cheptegei passed Kiplimo but Barega's five metre lead was too much to make up. Barega crossed the finish line with arms outstretched taking gold over the world record holder, his final lap 53.94. [5] [6] [7]

Background

This was the 25th time the event is held, having appeared at every Olympics since 1912.

Qualification

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 10,000 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 27:28.00. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 27 is reached. [2] [8] Because more than 27 athletes (after applying the 3-per-NOC limit) have met the qualifying standard, the world rankings are not used.

The qualifying period was originally from 1 January 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both indoor and outdoor meets were eligible for qualifying. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period. [2] [9]

NOCs cannot use their universality place in the 10,000 metres. [2]

Men's 10,000 m

Entry number: initial target of 27. 30 runners qualified by Entry standard. 5 runners withdrew before the race.

Qualification standardNo. of athletesNOCNominated athletes
Entry standard – 27:28.003Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia Berihu Aregawi
Selemon Barega
Yomif Kejelcha
3Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya Rhonex Kipruto
Rodgers Kwemoi
Weldon Langat
3Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda Joshua Cheptegei
Jacob Kiplimo
Stephen Kissa
3Flag of the United States.svg  United States Grant Fisher
Woody Kincaid
Joe Klecker
1Flag of Australia.svg  Australia Stewart McSweyn
Patrick Tiernan
1Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium Bashir Abdi
Isaac Kimeli
2Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain Sam Atkin
Marc Scott
2Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Akira Aizawa
Tatsuhiko Ito
0Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain Birhanu Balew
1Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Mohammed Ahmed
1Flag of Eritrea.svg  Eritrea Aron Kifle
1Flag of France.svg  France Morhad Amdouni
1Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Yemaneberhan Crippa
0Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco Zouhair Talbi
0Flag of Norway.svg  Norway Sondre Nordstad Moen
1Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Carlos Mayo
1Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland Julien Wanders
1Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand Kieran Tuntivate
World ranking0
Total25

Competition format

The event consists of a single race. [10]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows:

World recordFlag of Uganda.svg  Joshua Cheptegei  (UGA)26:11.00 Valencia, Spain 7 October 2020
Olympic recordFlag of Ethiopia (1996-2009).svg  Kenenisa Bekele  (ETH)27:01.17 Beijing, China 17 August 2008
World LeadingFlag of Uganda.svg  Jacob Kiplimo  (UGA)26:33.93 Ostrava, Czechia19 May 2021
Area
Time (s)AthleteNation
Africa ( records )26:11.00 WR Joshua Cheptegei Flag of Uganda.svg Uganda
Asia ( records )26:38.76 Abdullah Ahmad Hassan Flag of Qatar.svg Qatar
North, Central America
and Caribbean
( records )
26:44.36 Galen Rupp Flag of the United States.svg United States
Europe ( records )26:46.57 Mo Farah Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain
Oceania ( records )27:22.55 Patrick Tiernan Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
South America ( records )27:28.12 Marilson dos Santos Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil

Schedule

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The men's 10,000 metres took place on a single day. [1]

DateTimeRound
Friday, 30 July 202119:00Final

Final

RankAthleteNationTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Selemon Barega Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 27:43.22
Silver medal icon.svg Joshua Cheptegei Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 27:43.63 SB
Bronze medal icon.svg Jacob Kiplimo Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 27:43.88
4 Berihu Aregawi Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 27:46.16
5 Grant Fisher Flag of the United States.svg  United States 27:46.39
6 Mohammed Ahmed Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 27:47.76 SB
7 Yomif Kejelcha Flag of Ethiopia.svg  Ethiopia 27:52.03
8 Rhonex Kipruto Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 27:52.78
9 Morhad Amdouni Flag of France.svg  France 27:53.58
10 Yemaneberhan Crippa Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 27:54.05 SB
11 Aron Kifle Flag of Eritrea.svg  Eritrea 28:04.06
12 Carlos Mayo Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 28:04.71
13 Marc Scott Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 28:09.23
14 Woody Kincaid Flag of the United States.svg  United States 28:11.01
15 Joe Klecker Flag of the United States.svg  United States 28:14.18
16 Akira Aizawa Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 28:18.37 SB
17 Isaac Kimeli Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 28:31.91
18 Patrick Tiernan Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 28:35.06 SB
19 Weldon Langat Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 28:41.42
20 Julien Wanders Civil Ensign of Switzerland (Pantone).svg  Switzerland 28:55.29 SB
21 Tatsuhiko Ito Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 29:01.31
22 Kieran Tuntivate Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 29:01.92
Sam Atkin Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain DNF
Stephen Kissa Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda DNF
Rodgers Kwemoi Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya DQ

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF . Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  3. "Stephen Kissa: Step-up Uganda's kingmaker".
  4. "Olympics: Preview, TV, Time as Cheptegei and Kiplimo target 5000m Success | the SportsNation". 5 August 2021.
  5. "Selemon Barega wins 10,000m gold at the Tokyo Olympics despite Uganda's tactical approach".
  6. "Ethiopian Barega Upsets Uganda's Cheptegei to Win Shock 10,000-Meter Gold | Voice of America - English".
  7. "Barega upsets Cheptegei for 10K gold, 1st Tokyo track medal | NBC Olympics".
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