# 2023 World Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres

The men's 5000 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on 24 and 27 August 2023. Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the gold medal, followed by Mohamed Katir and Jacob Krop.

## Summary

There was a little drama in the opening heats. World record holder Joshua Cheptegei did not run. In the first heat, Sam Parsons tripped. As he went down, Stewie McSweyn tripped over him and was taken out of contention. Referees awarded McSweyn a place in the final.
Seventeen athletes toed the line. After sorting things out for two laps at 68 seconds per lap pace, Ishmael Rokitto Kipkurui threw in a 62 and nobody went with him. They let him have his day in the sun for 4 laps, then the peloton reeled him in. A leading pack mostly led by Berihu Aregawi then picked up the pace, 65, 62, 63, but the pack stayed as a group, very few were dropping off the pace. Three laps to go, it was time to race. While the Ethiopians Aregawi and Hagos Gebrhiwet were driving the pace, Luis Grijalva, Mohamed Ismail and Jimmy Gressier were always lurking on the front of the pack, defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Mohamed Katir, both of whom had competed in the 1500, were towards the back. Both felt they had something to prove. Ingebrigtsen was upset he had only won a silver medal in the 1500, losing gold to a Scottsman, this time Josh Kerr, for the second championships in a row. Katir, a bronze medalist from 2022, was upset he did not even make the 1500 final. With 3 laps to go Katir, followed by Ingebrigtsen, drifted towards the front. This move also brought the attention of Jacob Krop, Yomif Kejelcha and Mohammed Ahmed. The next 62 second lap strung out the back of the pack while there was a crowd near the front. The next lap at 58 pace congealed to 9. Coming in to the bell, there was a scramble. Seeing an opening one the inside as Aregawi drifted out, Gressier tried to sneak by on the inside. Aregawi closed the door and Gressier drifted back. Gebrhiwet, riding Aregawi's shoulder, was the reason he drifted out in the first place. When one door closed, it opened another for Gebrhiwet who pounced into the lead at the bell. Through the turn, Katir followed Gebrhiwet. Onto the backstretch, Katir used his 1500 speed to move to the lead, opening up 2 metres. Behind him, Ingebrigtsen had been boxed to the inside by Kejelcha. Ingebrigtsen had to drift out to lane 3 with Kejelcha still to his outside. Then he had to outrun Aregawi to get running room. Through the final turn Ingebrigtsen got around Gebrhiwet, the last of the three Ethiopians, spending considerable effort. Coming off the turn, he looked back to see if they were still mounting a challenge, no problem there, then he took off after Katir quickly getting to within a metre. But Ingebrigtsen was not making any more progress. Halfway down the straightaway it was as if he thought to himself, "I could just run in to get a Silver medal. No, I'm here to get Gold." He made one more push, slowly getting past Katir. Having given all he could to the effort, he even leaned for the line to make sure. It was not easy, but Ingebrigtsen had defended the title. 10 metres in back of the duo, the rest of the large pack were still battling the three Ethiopians. Six runners, four lanes wide halfway down the home stretch, Grijalva, Ahmed and Krop were racing for bronze. Sprinting down lane 3, from seventh place with 200 to go, Krop emerged in front to take the third medal.

## Records

Before the competition records were as follows:
| Record | Athlete & Nat. | Perf. | Location | Date |
| World record | Joshua Cheptegei (UGA) | 12:35.36 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | 14 August 2020 |
| Championship record | Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) | 12:52.79 | Saint-Denis, France | 31 August 2003 |
| World Leading | Berihu Aregawi (ETH) | 12:40.45 | Lausanne, Switzerland | 30 June 2023 |
| African Record | Joshua Cheptegei (UGA) | 12:35.36 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | 14 August 2020 |
| Asian Record | Albert Rop (BHR) | 12:51.96 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | 19 July 2013 |
| North, Central American and Caribbean record | Grant Fisher (USA) | 12:46.96 | Brussels, Belgium | 2 September 2022 |
| South American Record | Federico Bruno (ARG) | 13:11.57 | Palo Alto, United States | 21 April 2023 |
| European Record | Mohamed Katir (ESP) | 12:45.01 | Monaco | 21 July 2023 |
| Oceanian record | Craig Mottram (AUS) | 12:55.76 | London, Great Britain | 30 July 2004 |

## Qualification standard

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 13:07.00.

## Schedule

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+2), is as follows:
| Date | Time | Round |
| 24 August | 19:00 | Heats |
| 27 August | 20:20 | Final |

## Results
### Heats

The first 8 athletes in each heat (Q) qualified for the final. The overall results were as follows:
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | Luis Grijalva | Guatemala (GUA) | 13:32.72 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | Yomif Kejelcha | Ethiopia (ETH) | 13:32.83 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Mohammed Ahmed | Canada (CAN) | 13:33.16 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | Berihu Aregawi | Ethiopia (ETH) | 13:33.23 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Oscar Chelimo | Uganda (UGA) | 13:33.40 | Q, SB |
| 6 | 2 | Mohamed Ismail | Djibouti (DJI) | 13:33.51 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Ishmael Rokitto Kipkurui | Kenya (KEN) | 13:33.63 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Jacob Krop | Kenya (KEN) | 13:33.63 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | Thierry Ndikumwenayo | Spain (ESP) | 13:34.03 | |
| 10 | 2 | Rodrigue Kwizera | Burundi (BDI) | 13:35.81 | |
| 11 | 1 | Mohamed Katir | Spain (ESP) | 13:35.90 | Q |
| 12 | 1 | Hagos Gebrhiwet | Ethiopia (ETH) | 13:36.15 | Q |
| 13 | 1 | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Norway (NOR) | 13:36.21 | Q, SB |
| 14 | 1 | Ouassim Oumaiz | Spain (ESP) | 13:36.35 | Q |
| 15 | 2 | Magnus Tuv Myhre | Norway (NOR) | 13:36.36 | |
| 16 | 1 | Abdihamid Nur | United States (USA) | 13:36.37 | Q |
| 17 | 1 | Jimmy Gressier | France (FRA) | 13:36.42 | Q |
| 18 | 1 | Paul Chelimo | United States (USA) | 13:36.51 | Q |
| 19 | 1 | Narve Gilje Nordås | Norway (NOR) | 13:36.55 | Q |
| 20 | 1 | Andreas Almgren | Sweden (SWE) | 13:36.57 | |
| 21 | 1 | Egide Ntakarutimana | Burundi (BDI) | 13:37.53 | |
| 22 | 2 | Jonas Raess | Switzerland (SUI) | 13:37.84 | |
| 23 | 1 | Ben Flanagan | Canada (CAN) | 13:38.69 | |
| 24 | 2 | Henrik Ingebrigtsen | Norway (NOR) | 13:38.80 | |
| 25 | 1 | Mike Foppen | Netherlands (NED) | 13:38.94 | |
| 26 | 1 | John Heymans | Belgium (BEL) | 13:39.67 | |
| 27 | 2 | Hugo Hay | France (FRA) | 13:39.76 | |
| 28 | 2 | Sean McGorty | United States (USA) | 13:40.28 | |
| 29 | 1 | Nicholas Kimeli | Kenya (KEN) | 13:40.43 | |
| 30 | 1 | Birhanu Balew | Bahrain (BHR) | 13:41.00 | |
| 31 | 1 | Brian Fay | Ireland (IRL) | 13:42.86 | |
| 32 | 2 | Morgan McDonald | Australia (AUS) | 13:43.58 | |
| 33 | 1 | Cornelius Kemboi | Kenya (KEN) | 13:44.32 | |
| 34 | 2 | Hyuga Endo | Japan (JPN) | 13:50.49 | |
| 35 | 1 | Kazuya Shiojiri | Japan (JPN) | 13:51.00 | |
| 36 | 2 | Emil Danielsson | Sweden (SWE) | 13:54.35 | |
| 37 | 2 | Robin Hendrix | Belgium (BEL) | 13:55.81 | |
| 38 | 1 | Stewart McSweyn | Australia (AUS) | 13:56.81 | qR |
| 39 | 1 | Sam Parsons | Germany (GER) | 14:03.14 | |
| 40 | 2 | Samuel Freire | Cape Verde (CPV) | 14:03.14 | PB |
| 41 | 2 | Ferenc Soma Kovács | Hungary (HUN) | 14:11.99 | SB |
| 42 | 2 | Mohamed Hrezi | Libya (LBA) | 14:14.72 | SB |
| 43 | 1 | Valentin Soca | Uruguay (URU) | 14:16.15 | |
| | 1 | Joshua Cheptegei | Uganda (UGA) | DNS | DNS |

### Final

The final was started on 27 August at 20:20.
| Rank | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Jakob Ingebrigtsen | Norway (NOR) | 13:11.30 | SB |
| | Mohamed Katir | Spain (ESP) | 13:11.44 | |
| | Jacob Krop | Kenya (KEN) | 13:12.28 | |
| 4 | Luis Grijalva | Guatemala (GUA) | 13:12.50 | |
| 5 | Yomif Kejelcha | Ethiopia (ETH) | 13:12.51 | |
| 6 | Hagos Gebrhiwet | Ethiopia (ETH) | 13:12.65 | |
| 7 | Mohammed Ahmed | Canada (CAN) | 13:12.92 | |
| 8 | Berihu Aregawi | Ethiopia (ETH) | 13:12.99 | |
| 9 | Jimmy Gressier | France (FRA) | 13:17.20 | |
| 10 | Ishmael Kipkurui | Kenya (KEN) | 13:21.20 | |
| 11 | Mohamed Ismail | Djibouti (DJI) | 13:23.89 | |
| 12 | Abdihamid Nur | United States (USA) | 13:23.90 | |
| 13 | Stewart McSweyn | Australia (AUS) | 13:26.58 | |
| 14 | Narve Gilje Nordås | Norway (NOR) | 13:28.73 | |
| 15 | Paul Chelimo | United States (USA) | 13:30.88 | |
| 16 | Ouassim Oumaiz | Spain (ESP) | 13:31.99 | |
| | Oscar Chelimo | Uganda (UGA) | DNF | DNF |