Fisher crushes world record in 5,000
American's mark in Boston on Friday follows global best in 3,000 last Saturday
Six days after lowering the world indoor record in the men’s 3,000 meters by nine tenths of a second, American Grant Fisher annihilated the world mark in the 5,000 when he ran 12:44.09 in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Friday.
Fisher’s time crushed the previous best of 12:49.60 set by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia in 2004 and it came before a passionate and appreciative crowd at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center.
“That was a tough one,” Fisher said in an interview on letsrundotcom. “I came in here wanting the world record… It was really hard to find pacers. I had two guys step up and do a great job. The got me to halfway… I think any shorter than that and it would have been really close in getting the record.”
The BU track has a well-deserved reputation as one of the quickest 200-meter ovals in the world due to the plethora of fast times that have been run on it in the mile, 3,000, and 5,000. And Fisher’s performance further added to that narrative as it blasted the U.S. record of 12:51.71 that Woody Kincaid set on the track in 2023, as well as the 12:51.84 effort that Fisher ran in winning the Hemery meet last year.
Those two times put Kincaid and Fisher in the No. 4 and 5 positions on the all-time indoor performer list heading into the race on Friday.
The three men ahead of them were all distance running heavyweights as Bekele’s 12:49.60 effort had lowered the world record of 12:50.38 set by compatriot Haile Gebrselassie in 1999, and Gebrselassie’s mark had bettered the world record of 12:51.48 set by Kenyan Daniel Komen in 1998.
While Bekele and Gebrselassie — winners of a combined 14 global outdoor titles in the 5,000 and 10,000 during their careers — had lowered the indoor record in the 5,000 by relatively small margins, Fisher had run so well in his first two meets of the short track season that a time in the 12:46 to 12:47 range seemed plausible.
The 27-year-old runner’s season-opening race came in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Brighton, Massachusetts, on Feb. 2 when he ran an indoor personal best of 3:33.99 in the 1,500 while finishing second to fellow American Josh Hoey.
His second competitive outing had come last Saturday when he set a world record of 7:22.91 in the 3,000 in the Millrose Games in New York City while outkicking American Cole Hocker, the Olympic champion in the 1,500.
Fisher’s time bettered the previous record of 7:23.81 set by Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia in 2023 and with the 10,000 being Fisher’s strongest event, many fans were licking their chops in anticipation of what he could do in the 5k at BU.
Those fans no doubt became even more excited when Fisher, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 5,000 and 10,000, asked for the race tempo to be set for a final time of 12:42.
That required the pacesetters to try to go through the first kilometer in 2:32.4, the second in 5:04.8, and the third in 7:37.2.
Fisher was in third place when he came through 1,000 meters in 2:31.45 and he was in second when he passed 2,000 meters in 5:05.84. He then moved into the lead after second pacesetter Henry McIuckie dropped out of the race after 2,500 meters.
About a lap later, France’s Jimmy Gressier began to fall off the torrid tempo being set by Fisher.
Fisher’s final time was projected to be 12:45.20 when he passed three kilometers in 7:39.12 and he had slowed slightly when he came through four kilometers in 10:12.97. But with the crowed urging him on, he produced 400-meter splits of 61.50 and 60.35 for the next 800 meters before running his final 200 in 29.27 seconds.
His final time bettered his outdoor American record of 12:46.96 from 2022 and left him 10-plus seconds ahead of the game Gressier, who finished second in a European record of 12:54.92 that bettered the French record of 13:00.54 that he had set in winning the John Thomas Terrier Classic on the same track 13 days earlier.
Fisher ran so fast that he lapped much of the field in a race in which Yaseen Abdalla of the University of Arkansas finished third in 13:09.99. He was followed by Jonas Raess of Switzerland in 13:14.03, Valentin Soca of Uruguay in 13:14.09, and Sam Gilman of the U.S. in 13:15.58.
Gressier’s time moved him to seventh on the all-time performer list, while Abdalla’s Sudanese record moved him to eighth on the all-time collegiate list and Soca’s mark was a Uruguayan best.
Fisher had relatively uneven splits for the eight laps of the race, as he ran 58.52 for the first 400 meters and 63.86 for the fourth. But his 1,600-meter splits were incredibly consistent as he clocked 4:05.01 for the first one, 4:05.03 for the second, and 4:04.78 for the third before finishing in the aforementioned 29.27 seconds.
His performance came a day after Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway had lowered the world record in the indoor mile to 3:45.14 in a meet in Lievin, France. And that mark had come five days after American Yared Nuguse had run a then-world record of 3:46.63 while winning the Wanamaker Mile in the Millrose Games.
“They got me just as far as I needed, and it was a long, long way home,” Fisher said of pacesetters DJ Principe and McIuckie. “Those last laps felt like 400s and they were just dragging by, and I kept looking at the clock and being like, ‘Okay, I think that was a 30, I think that was a 31, I think that was a 31.’ With a few laps to go, I was like, ‘Okay, as long as I don’t blow up, I can get it.’ ”
He added that with a lap to go, “I knew I had it. And I was giving everything I could and I wanted to get as far under the record as possible. That worked out just as well as I hoped.”