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Paul Chelimo DQ’d in crazy 5,000m finish at Zurich Diamond League

A blanket finish at the Zurich Diamond League in Switzerland on Thursday

Paul Chelimo

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A mere 0.13 seconds separated first from fourth in the original results of the men’s 5,000m at the Zurich Diamond League.

In what was four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah’s final track race, the 2017 world champion Muktar Edris pushed the Brit to the line in a bid to spoil Farah’s farewell competition. Farah prevailed in 13:06.05 as Edris fell at the line, originally finishing third but later being upgraded to second. Chelimo clocked an identical 13:06.09 as Edris and too fell at the end of the race, squeezing his way between Farah and Edris in lane one.

“Edris was coming towards the middle,” Chelimo told LetsRun.com in a post-race interview. “And I was coming into lane two, I was coming into the inside lane. And they were blocking me, so I couldn’t let that go. You can’t let position one just go. I had to push my way through it and make it.”

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The IAAF later tweeted out that Chelimo had been disqualified for “causing an obstruction.” Chelimo put his arms on both Farah and Edris at the finish line. It appears that Edris was tying up and losing balance before Chelimo made contact with his arm.

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Alternate angle

Chelimo has been involved in past on-track run-ins including at the 2017 world championships in the 5,000m heats in which he fell multiple times. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he was disqualified, and later reinstated, on route to winning a silver medal for the United States.

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Canadian Mohammed Ahmed finished fifth in the Swiss race, clocking 13:10.26.

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