Fast Women: Olympic 5,000m drama
Beatrice Chebet, Keely Hodgkinson win gold.
Issue 307, sponsored by SOAR Running
During the Olympic Games, I’ll be sending out newsletters more frequently, so I can cover all the action in a timely manner. Fast Women will return to its regular once-a-week schedule next Monday.
Beatrice Chebet pulls off an upset in an eventful 5,000m
I initially wasn’t sure how soon I would put out the second newsletter of this week, but after that Olympic 5,000m final, I knew it couldn’t wait. In the early stages, it looked like many other championship races. The pace was modest, and a variety of athletes took a turn up front. They hit 1K in 3:10.7, 2K in 6:05.4, 3K in 9:00.1, and 4K in 11:54. At 4K, there were nine runners in the lead pack, with a small gap back to five more.
Things really got going with just over two laps to go, when Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay made a move for the lead, but kind of ran into Faith Kipyegon’s personal space, and there was an altercation. You can watch what happened. (I’ve updated that link because the original post has been deleted. The new link isn’t as good, but it gives you a sense of things.)
I don’t think either runner was a saint, but I did not spend the remainder of the race wondering if someone was going to be DQed. Rather, it reminded me of Sage Hurta-Klecker and Elle St. Pierre’s brief clash in the 1500m semifinals at the Olympic Trials, where both were issued yellow cards but not disqualified.
Tsegay landed in the lead with two laps to go, but Kipyegon took over with about 550m to go. And roughly 300m from the finish, Kipyegon and fellow Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, who had been there all along, started to gap the rest of the field. Coming down the homestretch, when it was really time to dig deep, it was Chebet who had something left. In her first Olympic Games, the 24-year-old pulled away to win gold in 14:28.56. Kipyegon won silver (14:29.60), and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands had the best race of her season by far and won bronze (14:30.61).
It was a little surprising to see Kipyegon finish second, because it happens so rarely, but if anyone was going to outrun her, Chebet was a good candidate. She has won the World Cross Country Championships the past two years, and at the Prefontaine Classic in May, she outkicked Tsegay and set a 10,000m world record of 28:54.14. Chebet has raced sparingly this season, but she’s in the midst of a breakthrough year.
Though I try to never lose faith in Hassan, because she’s so good at coming through when it counts, my confidence in her ability to medal was definitely wavering based on her performances this season. But she looked like herself again on Monday night. And now I’m even more interested to see how her 5,000m/10,000m/marathon triple goes.
Chebet ran the final kilometer of the race in an incredible 2:33.5 (there’s some rounding involved there). Her last 600m was a 1:28.9, and her final 400m was a 57.7. I imagine some of the athletes in this race can’t run that fast, period, let alone at the end of a 5,000m. Chebet will be back in the 10,000m, and she’s going to be tough to beat.
Tsegay was just starting to fall off the lead pack with one lap to go, and she faded badly, finishing ninth in 14:45.21. Her last lap took 73.21 seconds.
Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, who won European titles in the 5,000m and 10,000m in June, had an incredible race to take fourth in a national record of 14:31.64. She took 3.65 seconds off of her best time, in a race where most people weren’t PRing. (For more on her, here’s a good article from last year.) And Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi rounded out the top five, completing an excellent showing for the Kenyans.
Once the race was over, the drama was just getting started. Chebet, Kipyegon, and Hassan posed for photos, but shortly after, the results were updated to indicate that Kipyegon had been disqualified. It took a while for either of the Peacock broadcasts to relay that information to viewers, but in the meantime, many people, myself included, took to Twitter to express their outrage.
A disappointed Kipyegon left the track without speaking to the media. And Battocletti seemed to have gotten the message that she had been bumped into the bronze medal spot. The results remained that way for nearly two hours, until the decision was overturned and Kipyegon was reinstated. The Jury of Appeal concluded that though there was significant contact between Kipyegon and Tsegay, it did not warrant a disqualification.
The statement ended, “The Jury wishes to make clear that jostling of this nature is never acceptable and therefore recommends that Faith Kipyegon receives a disciplinary yellow card which would carry throughout the remainder of the Games.”
I’d argue that if Kipyegon deserves a yellow card, so does Tsegay, but hopefully it’s a non-issue going forward.
In the end, race officials landed on the right decision, but there was so much unnecessary drama in the interim. And I really feel for Battocletti, who must have experienced quite the emotional rollercoaster.
The no-video-in-the-mixed-zone policy is killing me, and as I write this, no one has posted a video of the post-race press conference yet. (Only Chebet and Hassan attended. At the time it began, I don’t think the decision had been overturned yet, plus Kipyegon was gone.) And I haven’t heard much about what the Americans had to say.
Elise Cranny has said that she regretted not being more bold at last year’s World Championships. (Runner’s World) With two laps to go, she was still in the lead pack, but after the contact between Tsegay and Kipyegon, the pace picked up, and she began to drop back. Cranny didn’t really have another gear and she dropped back to 11th, running 14:48.06.
Karissa Schweizer and Whittni Morgan were both in the lead pack with three laps to go, but with just over 1K remaining, they began to lose contact. Schweizer ultimately outkicked Cranny on the final lap and took 10th in 14:45.57. When you consider the buildup Schweizer had, her performance was particularly impressive. Though Cranny likely could have placed higher had she not stayed with the lead pack for as long as she did, she did her best to run a bold race.
Of the three Americans, I thought it was Morgan who had the best day. She finished 14th in 14:53.57 and took 8.5 seconds off of her PR. She and Battocletti were the only two runners in the 16-person field who ran PRs. “[I’m] so proud of that gutsy effort by Whittni,” her coach, Diljeet Taylor, said on Instagram. (If you see any references to her finishing 13th, remember that most of the field thought they finished one place higher than they did for about two hours.)
(5,000m highlights | Detailed results)
Thank you to SOAR for sponsoring Fast Women this month
SOAR Running design and produce function-first performance running apparel that does justice to the commitment and passion of runners globally. Founded in London, UK, SOAR’s unique mix of textile innovation, pioneering design technology, sports science, fashion design, and the real-world experiences of runners has resulted in an unmatched product offering. SOAR Women collections focus on garments that are pared back, light, and tailored to the experience of running as a woman.
Product Spotlight: Racing Vests
As worn by elites, SOAR Race Vests redefine what a race singlet could – and should – be. Made from technical recycled, Italian-made open mesh SPACE3D fabric, so you won’t notice the barely there minimalism, when you focus on the PRs. Our Crop Race Vest is back in stock in fresh new colors. Crafted from ultralight SPACE3D mesh for unmatched breathability, it features a precision fit with bonded seams. Weighing just 20g in size S, it’s built for effortless speed.
Keely Hodgkinson finally gets gold
The 800m went off right after the 5,000m, and any time something shocking happens in a race, I wish we could call time outs in track & field, so we’d have time to process. At the start of the 800m, Kipyegon had been DQed, but neither of the Peacock broadcasts had acknowledged it yet, so it was difficult for my brain to switch into 800m mode. (This exchange made me laugh, and I appreciate that commentator Kara Goucher occasionally replies to things on social media mid-broadcast.)
Comparatively speaking, the 800m was less eventful. Keely Hodgkinson led the race 400m in, splitting 58.4 seconds, slower than she was hoping to run. Heading into the homestretch, Hodgkinson hadn’t yet dropped Kenya’s Mary Moraa or Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma, but with about 50m to go, Hodgkinson had a gear that no one else could match. And after three consecutive years of earning silver medals at global championships, the 22-year-old finally earned a spot atop the podium.
Hodgkinson’s winning time was 1:56.72, and she ran impressively even splits of 58.4 and 58.3. Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma, the reigning World Indoor champion, overtook Kenya’s Mary Moraa, the reigning World Outdoor champion, late in the race and earned silver (1:57.15) with Moraa (1:57.42) close behind.
“I’ve worked so hard over the last year and you could see how much it meant to me as I crossed the line,” Hodgkinson told reporters after the race. “I can’t believe I’ve finally done it. And to do it here, where better?”
I was impressed by St. Vincent’s Shafiqua Maloney once again as she took fourth in 1:57.66. Maloney entered 2024 with a PR of 1:59.94, and she had only broken 2:00 once. In Paris, she ran two PRs, with a 1:58.23 in the first round, a 1:57.59 in the second, and a near-PR in the third. From the tidbits I’ve heard, it sounds like she has an interesting story, so I hope someone shares it soon.
Juliette Whittaker, 20, the lone American in the field, had a strong showing, finishing seventh in 1:58.50. Until the Olympic Trials, she had never broken 1:59 in the 800m, but now she just keeps doing it. She set a PR of 1:57.76 in her semifinal race, and had another solid run in the final. What a year it’s been for her. Two NCAA titles, an incredible PR, making the Olympic team, and advancing to the Olympic final. (800m replay | Detailed results)
Other Notes
By the time you read this, they might be done racing, but both Faith Kipyegon and Gudaf Tsegay are scheduled to race in this morning’s 1500m heats at 4:05 a.m. ET, only about 12.5 hours after the 5,000m finished. And maybe it’s for the best that they’re in different heats. We’ll get a chance to see what they can do on tired legs and probably very little sleep.
Adam Kilgore wrote a good story about Nikki Hiltz for The Washington Post.
I didn’t realize Beatrice Chebet is on TikTok until I looked at her Olympic bio, but I appreciate that she shows some of her personality over there.
Valarie Allman won the discus and became the first American woman ever to win two Olympic gold medals in a field event. (Discus highlights)
There will be a number of fantastic races today, including the steeplechase final at 3:14 p.m. ET. More from me soon. (Like yesterday’s newsletter, this was written without an editor, so if you see any errors, no you didn’t.)
Alison