10,000 metres, Men

As was true since 2004, the 10,000 metres was run as a final only, with no heats. The three favorites coming in were world record holder Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda, his teammate Jacob Kiplimo, and Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega. Kiplimo and Barega were only 20-years-old and had met 10 times at various distances, but never over 10,000 metres.

The day was not overly hot for the Tokyo summer, at 24° C. (75° F.), but it was run in a stifling 98% humidity. The early pace was set by Uganda’s Stephen Kissa who later explained that he was doing that “for the team.” Although not running overly fast, his lead stretched to almost 50 metres as the field refused to go out too quickly because of the weather.

Kissa led to almost 6,000 metres when the pack reeled him in, but the field stayed together as the pace did not pick up until four laps remained. With 800 metres to go there were still 12 runners in the lead pack, and at the bell, eight runners remained in contention for the medals.

Barega led at the bell and sprinted almost the entire last lap, never being headed as he won the gold medal. Cheptegei and Kiplimo chased hard but could never catch him, and they would win silver and bronze, respectively, as form held almost perfectly. The pace had accelerated over the last few laps, with Barega finishing the last lap in 53.9, the final 800 in 1:53.9, and the final 1,600 in 4:00.9.