The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to 3 miles 188 yards or 16,404 feet 2 inches. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over 12+1⁄2 laps of a standard 400 m track, or 25 laps on an indoor 200 m track. The same distance in road running is called a 5K run; referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres serves to disambiguate the two events. The 5000 m has been present on the Olympic programme since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. Prior to 1996, women had competed in an Olympic 3000 metres race since 1984. The 5000 m has been held at each of the World Championships in Athletics in men's competition and since 1995 in women's.
Tia Hellebaut is a retired Belgian track and field athlete, as well as a chemist, who started out in her sports career in the heptathlon, and afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors.
Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam is a Belgian athlete specialising in multi-event competition. She is the first athlete with three multi-event gold medals at the Olympic Games, winning the heptathlon at the 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics. Her three individual Olympic golds in a row for a woman equals the record of Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland in the hammer and Faith Kipyegon in the 1500 metres Thiam is also the only Belgian athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title.
Sifan Hassan is a Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world-leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1,500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second of three women to complete an Olympic distance double. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Hassan secured a bronze medal in both the women's 5,000 m and 10,000 m events and gold in the women's marathon, becoming the only woman to win the Olympic gold medal in the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and Marathon races.
Maureen Koster is a Dutch middle-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events. She won the bronze medal in the 3000 metres at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague, which later became a silver medal after Yelena Korobkina was disqualified for doping.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is a Norwegian middle- and long-distance runner who is the current world record holder in the short track 1500 metres, the 2000 metres and the 3000 metres, and holds the world best time over the two mile distance. Ingebrigtsen is a two-time Olympic champion, winning gold medals in the 1500 m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, setting a then Olympic and European record, and in the 5000 metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He is also a two-time World champion, winning gold medals in the 5000 m in 2022 and 2023 and a six-time European champion, winning gold medals in the 1500 m and 5000 m in 2018, 2022, and 2024. In addition to the 1500 m, Ingebrigtsen holds European records in the mile and 5000 m. Ingebrigtsen is one of three men to run a sub-3:30 1500 m, sub-7:30 3000 m and a sub-12:50 5000 m.
The Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Royal Belgian Athletics League, which serves as the Belgian national championship for the sport. Typically held over two to three days in February during the Belgian winter, it was first added to the national calendar in 1989, supplementing the main outdoor Belgian Athletics Championships held in the summer since 1889. National championships in relay and combined track and field events are contested separately.
Imke Vervaet is a Belgian athlete. She competed at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics as a 200 metres runner and as a member of the Belgian women's 4x400 metres and mixed 4x400 metres relay teams. She also participated at multiple World and European Athletics championships, indoor and outdoor, individually and as a member of the 4x400 metres relay teams. She was national champion in the women's 200 metres in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024.
Nadia Battocletti is an Italian female middle- and long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 5000 m and 10000 m races at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Battocletti won a silver medal in the 10,000 m and placed fourth in the 5000 m race.
The Belgian Cross Country Championships is an annual cross country running organised by the Royal Belgian Athletics League that serves as the national championship for the sport in Belgium. It was usually held in February or March until 2023 but from there on out, the championships are organized in the autumn, usually in November.
Robin Hendrix is a Belgian long-distance runner. He is the Belgian indoor record holder for the 5000 metres.
Thomas Carmoy is a Belgian high jumper. In 2019, he won the bronze medal in his event at the Military World Games held in Wuhan, China. He won bronze medals in the men's high jump at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships held in Toruń, Poland and the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships held in Istanbul, Turkey. Carmoy represented Belgium at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France where he failed to qualify for the final, finishing 19th.
Diane van Es is a Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2024 European Championships and the bronze medal in the 5000 metres at the 2021 European Under-23 Championships.
Jente Hauttekeete is a Belgian athlete specializing in the heptathlon and the decathlon.
Hanne Verbruggen is a Belgian long-distance runner. She represented Belgium at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon.
Dieter Kersten is a Belgian athlete who specializes in long distance and cross-country running.
Michael Somers is a Belgian long-distance runner. He won the 5000 meters at the 2019 Belgian Athletics Championships. He also won the overall title of the 2021–22 Lotto Cross Cup. In December 2021, he finished 5th at the 2021 European Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland in a race won by Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Helena Ponette is a Belgian sprinter specialising in the 400 metres. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics as a 400 metres runner and as a member of the Belgian women's 4x400 metres and mixed 4x400 metres relay teams. She also participated at multiple World and European Athletics championships, indoor and outdoor, individually and as a member of the 4x400 metres relay teams. She was national champion in the women's 400 metres in 2023. Also at the time of 2024 Olympic Games, she was finishing her studies in medicine at KU Leuven, and starting internship in September 2024.
John Heymans is a Belgian long-distance runner. He has won two national titles. He is a member of Royal Excelsior Club Brussels. After finishing his MSc in Bioengineering and Nanotechnology from the KU Leuven in September 2022, he decided to become a professional athlete.
