Andrea Seccafien breaks 15 minutes in World Championships 5,000m final
Seccafien secures Olympic standard and a new personal best in World Championships final
Canadian Andrea Seccafien has capped off a very impressive World Championships with her first-ever sub-15-minute 5,000m.
Seccafien ran a personal best to make the final, hitting 15:04.67 in the semis and then bettered her personal best only two days later, running 14:59.95 for 13th place in the final. Her new time is well under Olympic standard (15:10) and her points accumulated in the final place her in a great position for Olympic qualification heading into 2020. Points are accumulated through the year and count toward world ranking, which is a criterion for Olympic qualification.
Congrats Karissa!!!
— emma coburn (@emmajcoburn) October 5, 2019
The win went to the World Cross-Country champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya in a championship record of 14:26.72. Second place went to Margaret Kipkemboi in 14:27.49, which is a new personal best, and third place to Konstanze Klosterhalfen in 14:28.43. Klosterhalfen secured Germany’s first-ever World Championship medal in the 5,000m.
American Karissa Schweizer was 9th, and her time of 14:45.18 makes her the 5th fastest American woman of all time. She’s keeping good company on that list, which includes some pretty impressive names: Shelby Houlihan, Shannon Rowbury, Molly Huddle and Shalane Flanagan.
Next up for the Canadians is the men’s marathon, which features John Mason and Berhanu Degefa. The race goes at 5 p.m. EDT. Full start list and live feed can be found here.
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