2013 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 5000 metres


The women's 5000 metres at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium on 14–17 August.
With Margaret Wangari Muriuki dropping out injured in the first round, the finals had three Ethiopians and three Americans and only two Kenyans. Also missing by design is world record holder Tirunesh Dibaba who won the 10000 earlier, leaving Meseret Defar the 5000.
The final started slow with the Ethiopians watching the front, letting Dominika Nowakowska then Dolores Checa jog through 75-second laps at the front. With 2000 to go, the racing began, Almaz Ayana took over the lead and the crowd disappeared. Within a lap, not surprisingly, the three Ethiopians and two Kenyans were running alone. Lap times were dropping, 71, 69, 68. In the next lap Buze Diriba fell back to the trailing American duo of Molly Huddle and Shannon Rowbury. The two Ethiopians were leading, the two Kenyans trying to keep up. Shortly after the bell, Viola Kibiwot lost touch with her teammate Mercy Cherono and then there were three. Defar stayed tucked into second place waiting until the time was right. The time was 200 meters to go, that was when Defar accelerated past Ayana and into the lead. Cherono made no effort to go after Defar, she was gone sprinting to gold. Cherono waited through the turn and executed her best move to outsprint Ayana for the silver. So prepared for victory, Defar and Ayana had already received their flags and were displaying them while the early leaders were still finishing.

Records

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:
World record14:11.15Oslo, Norway6 June 2008
Championship record14:38.59Helsinki, Finland13 August 2005
World Leading14:23.68Paris, France6 June 2013
African Record14:11.15Oslo, Norway6 June 2008
Asian Record14:28.09Shanghai, People's Republic of China23 October 1997
North, Central American and Caribbean record14:44.76Brussels, Belgium27 August 2010
South American record15:18.85São Paulo, Brazil20 May 2011
European Record14:23.75Kazan, Russia19 July 2008
Oceanian record14:45.93Rome, Italy11 July 2008

Qualification standards

Schedule

Results

Heats

Qualification: First 5 in each heat and the next 5 fastest advanced to the final.
RankHeatNameNationalityTimeNotes
12Meseret Defar15:22.94Q
22Buze Diriba15:23.41Q
32Viola Kibiwot15:24.47Q
42Yelena Nagovitsyna15:26.95Q
52Kim Conley15:27.35Q
62Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal15:29.41q
72Susan Kuijken15:34.31q
81Mercy Cherono15:34.70Q
91Almaz Ayana15:34.93Q
102Jackie Areson15:40.21q
111Molly Huddle15:40.91Q
122Dolores Checa15:43.73q
132Dominika Nowakowska15:45.10q
141Shannon Rowbury15:50.41Q
151Tejitu Daba15:56.74Q
161Almensh Belete16:03.03
171Sophie Duarte16:05.14
181Betlhem Desalegn16:13.27
191Misaki Onishi16:16.52
201Carolina Tabares16:22.81
212Giuli Dekanadze17:57.39SB
1Margaret Wangari Muriuki

Final

The final was started at 18:55.
RankNameNationalityTimeNotes
Meseret Defar14:50.19
Mercy Cherono14:51.22
Almaz Ayana14:51.33
Viola Kibiwot15:01.67
Buze Diriba15:05.38
Molly Huddle15:05.73
Shannon Rowbury15:06.10SB
Susan Kuijken15:14.70
Elena Nagovitsyna15:24.83
10Dolores Checa15:30.42
11Tejitu Daba15:33.89
12Kim Conley15:36.58
13Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal15:48.87
14Dominika Nowakowska15:58.26
15Jackie Areson16:08.32