# 1974 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at Stadio Olimpico on 6 and 8 September 1974.

## Medalists

| Gold | Brendan Foster Great Britain |
| Silver | Manfred Kuschmann East Germany |
| Bronze | Lasse Virén Finland |

## Results
### Final

8 September This final was a fast race from the start, with Britain's Brendan Foster leading it all the way. He passed 1,000 metres in 2:39.2. In the early laps, Belgium's Willy Polleunis closely followed Foster, but soon after 1,000 metres the Belgian started to drop from the Briton's pace, and became the first runner to lose contact with the lead group. Polleunis would finish fifteenth and last in this final. Foster kept up the fast and steady pace, passing 2,000 metres in 5:20.2. Finland's Lasse Viren had already moved behind Foster during the second kilometre, with East Germany's Manfred Kuschmann running third. At 2,800 metres, Foster suddenly surged, and only Viren tried to keep up with him. The British runner passed 3,000 metres in 8:01.2. Viren slowed down before 3,100 metres, determined to conserve his strength to fight for the silver and bronze medals instead. Therefore Foster ran the final's last laps in an unchallenged lead, while Viren let the main group of runners catch him. On the last back straight, Kuschmann suddenly sprinted into the second place, followed by Viren, the Netherlands' Jos Hermens, Norway's Arne Kvalheim, and Romania's Ilie Floroiu. At the start of the final bend, Hermens passed Viren. However, on the final straight, the Finn was able to pass the Dutchman to claim the bronze medal behind Foster, who had already finished the race in 13:17.2, and Kuschmann who sprinted to the finish line in the second place. (See Raevuori, Antero, Lasse Viren: The Gilded Spikes / Kullatut piikkarit (Finland, c. 1976); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD3KLV7R4jA EUROPEI DI ROMA 1974 5000 FOSTER.)
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Brendan Foster | Great Britain | 13:17.21 | CR |
| | Manfred Kuschmann | East Germany | 13:23.93 | NR |
| | Lasse Virén | Finland | 13:24.57 | |
| 4 | Jos Hermens | Netherlands | 13:25.51 | NR |
| 5 | Ilie Floroiu | Romania | 13:27.12 | NR |
| 6 | Arne Kvalheim | Norway | 13:27.23 | |
| 7 | Stanislav Hoffman | Czechoslovakia | 13:29.03 | |
| 8 | Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand | West Germany | 13:31.93 | |
| 9 | Vladimir Zatonskiy | Soviet Union | 13:39.6 | |
| 10 | Petar Svet | Yugoslavia | 13:41.6 | |
| 11 | Knut Børø | Norway | 13:45.8 | |
| 12 | Pavel Pěnkava | Czechoslovakia | 14:00.6 | |
| 13 | Pekka Päivärinta | Finland | 14:14.2 | |
| 14 | Knut Kvalheim | Norway | 14:19.0 | |
| 15 | Willy Polleunis | Belgium | 14:23.2 | |

### Heats

6 September

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Willy Polleunis | Belgium | 13:38.6 | Q |
| 2 | Knut Børø | Norway | 13:38.6 | Q |
| 3 | Pavel Pěnkava | Czechoslovakia | 13:38.8 | Q |
| 4 | Manfred Kuschmann | East Germany | 13:39.2 | Q |
| 5 | Dave Black | Great Britain | 13:41.8 | |
| 6 | Fernando Cerrada | Spain | 13:56.8 | |
| 7 | Werner Meier | Switzerland | 14:05.4 | |
| 8 | Mihaíl Koúsis | Greece | 14:07.0 | |
| | Aniceto Simões | Portugal | DNF | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pekka Päivärinta | Finland | 13:56.6 | Q |
| 2 | Knut Kvalheim | Norway | 13:56.8 | Q |
| 3 | Stanislav Hoffman | Czechoslovakia | 13:59.4 | Q |
| 4 | Vladimir Zatonskiy | Soviet Union | 14:01.4 | Q |
| 5 | Henryk Nogala | Poland | 14:07.0 | |
| 6 | Chris Stewart | Great Britain | 14:17.2 | |
| 7 | Eamonn Coghlan | Ireland | 14:29.6 | |
| | Léon Schots | Belgium | DNF | |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Brendan Foster | Great Britain | 13:37.0 | Q |
| 2 | Jos Hermens | Netherlands | 13:37.4 | Q |
| 3 | Knut Kvalheim | Norway | 13:37.8 | Q |
| 4 | Lasse Virén | Finland | 13:38.2 | Q |
| 5 | Ilie Floroiu | Romania | 13:39.0 | q |
| 6 | Petar Svet | Yugoslavia | 13:40.8 | q |
| 7 | Klaus-Peter Hildenbrand | West Germany | 13:41.4 | q |
| 8 | Christian Cairoche | France | 13:59.6 | |
| | Eddy Van Mullem | Belgium | DNF | |

## Participation

According to an unofficial count, 26 athletes from 18 countries participated in the event.
* Belgium (3)
* Czechoslovakia (2)
* East Germany (1)
* Finland (2)
* France (1)
* Greece (1)
* Ireland (1)
* Netherlands (1)
* Norway (3)
* Poland (1)
* Portugal (1)
* Romania (1)
* Soviet Union (1)
* Spain (1)
* Switzerland (1)
* Great Britain (3)
* West Germany (1)
* Yugoslavia (1)