Barega kicks to victory in deep 5,000
Ethiopian runs 12:51.60 in winning men's race of Los Angeles Grand Prix
Selemon Barega of Ethiopia won one of the deepest men’s 5,000-meter races in history when he crossed the finish line in 2 minutes 51.60 seconds in the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA on Friday night.
The 24-year-old runner’s time was the fastest in the world this year and came in a race in which 11 men broke the once-elite 13-minute barrier.
The most sub-13 clockings in a single race came in last year’s Golden Gala Pietro Mennea Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy, when 13 men accomplished that feat.
Barega had been unable to match the finishing speed of Brit Josh Kerr and American Yared Nuguse when he finished third in the 3,000 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 2. But no one in the field could keep pace with him during the final 200 meters of Friday’s race that was contested under cool and still — no breeze — conditions at Drake Stadium.
Compatriot Berihu Aregawi, who was in the lead with half a lap left in the race, finished second in 12:12.09, followed by the Ugandan duo of world record-holder Joshua Cheptegei at 12:52.38 and two-time defending World cross country champion Jacob Kiplimo at 12:52.91.
American record-holder Grant Fisher placed fifth in 12:53.30, and he was followed by 17-year-old Biniam Mehary of Ethiopia in 12:54.10, Mohammed Ahmed of Canada in 12:54.22, and Sam Atkin of Great Britain in 12:54.66.
Next came Cooper Teare of the U.S. in ninth place in 12:54.72, followed by Stewart McSweyn of Australia in 12:56.07 and Cole Hocker of the U.S. in 12:58.82.
Mehary, Atkin, Teare, McSweyn, and Hocker all set personal bests, as did Morgan McDonald of Australia, who placed 12th in 13:00.48.
In addition, the times by Atkin and Teare were the fastest-ever for their respective places.
Barega had been content to lay just off the pace during the early part of the race as he was in 10th place and eighth, respectively, when American pacesetter AJ Ernst brought the field through the 1,000- and 2,000-meter marks.
Although no kilometer splits were given for Ernst in the race results, as he dropped out of the contest shortly after 2,000 meters, Atkin was close behind Ernst when he came through the first 1,000 meters in 2:34.87 and the second in 5:10.51.
In contrast, Barega was at 2:36.95 and 5:12.02.
When Atkin led the field through 3,000 meters in 7:47.05, Barega was in seventh place at 7:48.37.
The defending Olympic champion in the 10,000 had dropped back to ninth place at 4,000 meters, but his split of 10:26.07 left him less than a second behind first-place Aregawi at 10:25.31.
Aregawi would lead the race for the next two-plus laps, but Barega had moved into second place with 600 meters left in the race and he was still there with 200 remaining.
He then launched a kick entering the home straightaway that no one could match as he ran the final lap in close to 54 seconds and clocked 2:25.54 for his final kilometer.
The women’s 5,000 meters followed the men’s contest, and though it did not have the depth of the previous race, it did showcase a masterful performance by Elle St. Pierre of the U.S. as clocked a winning 14:34.12.
The 29-year-old St. Pierre, who gave birth to her first child in March of last year, had capped a short, but sensational, indoor season when she won the women’s 3,000 in a meet record of 8:20.87 in the World Championships in Glasgow. That was the fourth-fastest indoor time in history and came after she had sped past favored Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia in the final 20 meters of the contest.
Friday’s race was her first since that scintillating victory and she followed pacesetter Gemma Finch of Great Britain for the first three laps before taking over the lead just before 1,600 meters as Finch slowed to pull out of the race.
After clocking 2:58.44 for her first kilometer, St. Pierre came through 2,000 meters in 5:57.17 and 3,000 in 8:54.50. Her finish time was projected to be 14:50.84 at that point in the race, but she picked up the pace considerably over the final two kilometers while being closely trailed by Joselyn Brea of Venezuela.
St. Pierre came through 4,000 meters in 11:48.66 after running her fourth kilometer in 2:54.16 before running 2:45.46 for her final 1,000 meters.
Brea was a stride back of St. Pierre with 500 meters left in the race, but the American was two strides ahead with a lap to go and she really began to pull away from her Venezuelan counterpart heading down the backstretch as she tapped into some of the speed that has helped her run 4:16.41 for the mile.
St. Pierre’s final time of 14:34.12 moved her to fifth on the all-time U.S. performer list while crushing her previous best of 14:58.07 that she had set while finishing 11th in the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Brea’s time of 14:36.59 bettered her previous national record of 14:47.76, while Hannah Nuttall of Great Britain finished third in a personal best of 14:57.91.
The other top winning performances on Friday were turned in by Brooke Andersen of the U.S. in the women’s hammer throw, Valarie Allman of the U.S. in the women’s discus, and Mykhaylo Kokhan of Ukraine in the men’s hammer.
Andersen, the 2022 World champion, posted her third victory of the season without a loss when she threw the hammer 77.32 meters (253 feet 8 inches) while defeating a field that included 2019 World champion DeAnna Price of the U.S. at 77.16 (253-2) and 2023 World champion Camryn Rogers of Canada at 75.56 (247-11).
Janee Kassanavoid of the U.S., the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships, placed fourth at 72.99 (239-5).
Allman posted her ninth consecutive victory in the discus dating back to last season as her top mark of 67.93 (222-10) left her well in front of runner-up Yaime Perez of Cuba at 64.95 (213-1) and third-place Jorinde van Klinken of the Netherlands at 62.74 (205-10).
All five of Allman’s fair throws would have been far enough to win the competition, with the defending Olympic champion’s No. 2 and 3 efforts measuring 67.79 (222-5) and 67.22 (220-6), respectively.
Kokhan set a pair of stadium records in winning the men’s hammer throw with a best of 80.33 (263-6).
His first stadium record of 79.33 (260-3) came in the second round when he wrested the lead from Denzel Comenentia of Netherlands, who had set a national and stadium record of 79.09 (259-5) in the first round.
Kokhan then added another meter to the stadium mark when he produced his 80.33 (263-6) effort in the third round.
Overall, Kokhan had the top three throws in the competition and five of the top six.
Comenentia finished second with his best of 79.09 (259-5), followed by Daniel Haugh of the U.S. at 76.86 (252-2).
Other event winners on Friday included Sandi Morris of the U.S. in the women’s pole vault at 4.70 (15-5), Jean-Simon Desgagnes of Canada in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at 8:16.49, and compatriot Ceili McCabe in the women’s steeplechase with a national record of 9:20.58.
In B section races, American Hobbs Kessler won the men’s 800 meters in a personal best of 1:45.07 and compatriot Morgan Beadlescomb set a career best of 3:35.84 in winning the men’s 1,500.
Samantha Watson of the U.S. won the B section of the women’s 800 in 2:00.73 and compatriot Heather MacLean took the B section of the women’s 1,500 in 4:02.49.
The second — and final — day of the meet will start at 2:40 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, this afternoon with a masters race of the women’s 200 meters. The final event, the women’s 1,500, is scheduled to start at 4:49 p.m.
The meet will be broadcast in the U.S. from 3-5 p.m. by Peacock, with NBC also televising the competition from 3-4:30 p.m.