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| Event type

5,000 metres, Men

Date15 February 1968 — 9:00
StatusOlympic
LocationL'Anneau de Vitesse, Grenoble
Participants38 from 17 countries
Olympic Record 7:38.4 / Knut Johannesen NOR / 5 February 1964
StarterLeif HjallumNOR
RefereeSven LåftmanSWE

Based on recent results, the favorite was Norway’s Fred Anton Maier, who had recently won the distance and the all-around at the 1968 European Championship and in January had broken the world record in this event, posting 7:26.2. His biggest challenge was expected to come from Kees Verkerk, who had won the distance and the all-around title at the 1966 and 1967 World Championships and the 1967 European Championship.

Verkerk was in the third pair, with no significant leading time to shoot at. He was ahead of world record pace throughout and finished in 7:23.2, surpassing Maier’s world record. Two pairs later Maier toed the line. He crept ahead of Verkerk’s pace at 1,800 m, and was three seconds clear at 3,800 metres. He then held on to finish in 7:22.4, re-taking the world record, which would secure for him the gold medal. In the 10th pair, the Netherlands’ Petrus Nottet finished in 7:25.5, also under the previous world record, a mark that brought him the bronze medal.

Maier had been around internationally since 1960, but 1968 was his greatest year. A distance specialist, he set seven world records, won both the European and World Championships, and the 5 and 10K at both tournaments, and won this Olympic gold medal. One day after this race, Verkerk would win the gold medal in the 1,500.

PosPairCompetitorNOCTime
15IFred Anton MaierNOR7:22.4GoldWR
23OKees VerkerkNED7:23.2SilverWR
310OPeter NottetNED7:25.5Bronze
414OPer Willy GuttormsenNOR7:27.8
514IJohnny HöglinSWE7:32.7
66IÖrjan SandlerSWE7:32.8
720IJonny NilssonSWE7:32.9
817IJan BolsNED7:33.1
92OKimmo KoskinenFIN7:35.9OR
109OValery LavrushkinURS7:37.9
117OStanislav SelyaninURS7:38.5
1216OSvein-Erik StiansenNOR7:39.6
139IGünter TraubFRG7:40.4
1419IAnatoly MashkovURS7:41.9
1511OJouko LaunonenFIN7:46.5
168OHermann StrutzAUT7:53.3
1719ORaimo HietalaFIN7:54.0
1811IGiancarlo GloderITA7:54.5
191IPaul EnockCAN7:54.8
2018OJürgen TraubFRG7:55.3
212IYoshiaki DemachiJPN7:55.6
2212ITadao IshihataJPN7:55.8
2316IGuido GillarduzziITA7:57.4
246OBill LaniganUSA7:57.7
2513OBill CoxUSA7:58.1
265ORenato De RivaITA7:58.2
2718IJohn BlewittGBR7:59.8
2815OWayne LeBombardUSA8:03.8
2912OBob HodgesCAN8:05.0
3015IMichel ThépénierFRA8:06.2
=313IGyörgy IvánkaiHUN8:07.5
=314OFrançois PerrenoudFRA8:07.5
3317OMutsuhiko MaedaJPN8:08.3
341OFranz KrienbühlSUI8:08.9
3513IRuedi UsterSUI8:12.2
368ILuvsansharavyn TsendMGL8:15.8
3710IErich KorbelAUT8:20.8
384ILee Ik-HwanKOR8:28.2
DNSGerd ZimmermannFRG