Paul Chelimo, Emmanuel Bor set for another American record attempt
Just two weeks after their last 5,000m record attempt, Bor and Chelimo will give it another shot in Virginia
After missing the American indoor 5,000m record at the Firefly Recovery meet in Virginia on March 4, Paul Chelimo and Emmanuel Bor will be back in action on Thursday and once again looking to break Galen Rupp‘s 13:01.26 national best. This event, titled the Boost Treadmills 5,000, will also be run in in Virginia, and eight other athletes will join Bor and Chelimo.
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Firefly Recovery 5,000m
At the Firefly Recovery event, Chelimo was the favourite for the win, and many people thought he would break or at least challenge Rupp’s record. With an Olympic silver medal and a world championship bronze to his name in the 5,000m, the event is certainly Chelimo’s specialty. While he hadn’t raced an indoor 5K for years (his most recent run before the Firefly Recovery meet was from 2011, and it stood at an underwhelming PB of 14:14.6), there was no doubt that he was capable of beating Rupp’s record and potentially running sub-13.
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That’s not what happened, though, and Bor stole the spotlight from Chelimo, taking the win in 13:05.60. This was close to a five-second PB for Bor, and it earned him the second-fastest indoor 5,000m result in American history. Chelimo ended up smashing his own PB, but he finished well behind Bor, and even farther back of Rupp’s record, crossing the line in 13:12.51.
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Another shot
According to LetsRun.com, Bor and Chelimo had originally planned on chasing the Olympic qualifying standard of 27:28.00 on Thursday. After Bor’s lifetime-best time and Chelimo’s disappointing result, though, they decided to have another run at the American record. This decision was made easier following news that the USATF has an elite 10,000m event planned for May.
As reported by LetsRun, last race, Chelimo and Bor started out at 12:58 pace, following the Light Speed Pacing technology lining the track. That approach didn’t work out, and they fell off record pace. On Thursday, the lights will start at 13:06 pace and remain constant for the opening 4K. From there, the leading men will have 1,000m to catch up to Rupp’s record and hopefully pass it. If any man racing manages to break 13 minutes, he will become just the seventh person to do so indoors.
In addition to the men’s 5,000m, there will be women’s races in the 3,000m and mile at the Boost Treadmills meet. The event will be streamed live by LetsRun, and it can be found on YouTube starting at 5:45 p.m. ET on Thursday.
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