Silver in the men’s 5,000-meter event at the 2015 world championships in Doha propelled Barega to the top of his field.
In a tense and strategic race, the 21-year-old claimed gold with a surge of speed around the final corner and down the home straight that not even the fast Ugandans could match.
Men 10000m Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: Barega Setting a New Olympic Record.
Barega ran a time of 27 minutes, 43 seconds in the oppressive heat and humidity, with Cheptegei, who last year in Valencia set a world record of 26 minutes, 11 seconds, outsprinting his teenage adversary in the final 30 metres to win silver in a time of 27 minutes, 43 seconds.
Kiplimo won bronze with a time of 27:43.88 at an event in Ostrava on May 19. His time of 26:33.93 is the fastest of the year and places him eighth on the all-time list.
In two minutes and 25 seconds, Barega ran the final kilometre, setting a new Olympic record.
After the race, Barega admitted that he was regaining Ethiopia’s prominence in an event last won by Kenenisa Bekele in 2008, and he said that his strategy had been “very tough” due to the form of the Ugandans.
Moreover, he said “As I was a short-distance runner, I felt confident in my ability to win races of shorter distances, such as 400 or 200 metres, since I had previously won a race of that length.
“Although the Ugandans had previously won and were very close this time around, I was more expecting my Ethiopian coworkers to be among the top winners.
It was quite competitive, with a large gap between the first and second Ugandan runners on the first straight, but they were able to communicate with each other because they trained with each other.
If he is allowed to by the Olympics and the Federation, he is ready to compete in both the 5,000 and 10,000 metre events. When asked if he plans to do so, he said, “I’m extremely ready to run.”
Since I wasn’t competing in any other events, I was free to put all of my energy into trying to win gold at the Olympics, much like my former coworkers who had participated in many Olympics and won several gold medals in each.
Final Words
The fact that it was a premeditated action was made evident after the fact by Kissa’s rather dejected explanation: “As a team, they gave up a lot to win.
Around the 8,000 metre mark, Cheptegei took the lead until being passed by Mohammed Ahmed of Canada and Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, who had been in the lead for a few circuits themselves.
Barega, who had earlier returned the field to Kissa, was now perched on Ahmed’s shoulder, appearing unruffled by the situation.
Barega jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as the final bell rang in this massive, mostly empty stadium. Thanks for reading our article Men 10000m Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
