The women's 5000 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in two rounds at the Stade de France in Paris, France, on 2 and 5 August 2024. This was the eighth time that the women's 5000 metres is contested at the Summer Olympics. A total of 43 athletes were to qualify for the event by entry standard or ranking.
Summary
At the previous Olympics, Sifan Hassan was virtually unbeatable at the end of races. She returns to defend her championship but since then her results have been more sketchy. Gudaf Tsegay, returning bronze medalist, won the 2022 World Championships, uncharacteristically out kicking Beatrice Chebet. Then in 2023, 1500 world record holder Faith Kipyegon joined the mix beating Hassan and Chebet while Tsegay applied her efforts to win the 10,000. Ethiopia didn't select the season's world leader Tsigie Gebreselama, but did select Ejgayehu Taye, 2023 10,000 bronze medalist, who finished .16 behind her at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic, by far the fastest race of the season.[2]
At the gun in the final, Kipyegon went to the front to control the pace. With her superior finishing speed, she didn't want to run fast. Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal wanted to make the race faster and moved to the front, Nadia Battocletti and Chebet dropped in behind her. Near the halfway point, Taye moved to the front, with Tsegay joining her to try to do some team tactics. After two faster laps, Kipyegon moved back to the front. With just under three laps to go, Tsegay moved to the front to challenge Kipyegon. Kipyegon didn't think Tsegay had enough space to pass, the two exchanged elbows. As the pace quickened, Hassan moved from the back of the field, to the back of the leading group as stragglers fell off. All three Kenyans hit the bell, Kipyegon followed closely by Chebet and Margaret Kipkemboi. A few steps behind, Hassan left the chasing group and set off after the departing Kenyans. Hassan got by Kipkemboi but couldn't make progress against Chebet and Kipyegon. Kipyegon's grinding speed didn't break Chebet, instead, waiting until the home stretch, Chebet found another gear and out-sprinted Kipyegon for the gold.[3]
Kipyegon was originally disqualified after the race for an earlier race incident with Tsegay. With a 59.5 final lap, Battocletti finished fourth and was advanced to the bronze behind Hassan. However, after a protest, Kipyegon was reinstated as the silver medallist and the original results were restored.[4][5]
Background
The women's 5000 metres has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1996, when the event replaced the women's 3000 metres to match the men's event.
For the women's 5000 metres event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024.[9] 45 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by running the entry standard of 14:52.00 seconds or faster or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.[9]
Results
Round 1
Round 1 was held on 2 August, starting at 18:10 (UTC+2) in the evening.[1] First 8 in each heat (Q) advance to the final.[10]
