Paris Day 6 A.M.: Chaos Strikes Men’s 5,000 Prelims – Nur, Ahmed, Grijalva Eliminated

PARIS – It’s becoming a trend. Falls played a major role at the US Olympic Trials in the women’s 800 and in recent Diamond Leagues in Monaco and London in the men’s 1500. Now the epidemic has spread to the 5,000 meters as the two Olympic preliminaries on Wednesday morning featured a total of six men hitting the ground across three separate incidents.

That left a lot of carnage to sort out for the officials, and in the end four of the six men were advanced to the final: Great Britain’s George Mills, the Netherlands’ Mike Foppen, Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo, and Dominic Lobalu, representing the Refugee Olympic Team. All of those men were involved in the same incident in heat 1, but Canada’s Moh Ahmed (who fell with 500 to go in heat 1) and the USA’s Abdihamid Nur (who fell with 100 to go in heat 2) were not as lucky and were not advanced.

Oh, and with a mile to go in heat 2, some in the field including Jakob Ingebrigtsen had to dodge an oblivious cameraman trying to cross the track. No one fell there, at least. 

There was one shock involving people who didn’t fall. US-based Luis Grijalva of Guatemala, who has been 4th at the last two Worlds, was a total non-factor in the kick for the qualifying spots in heat 2 and was eliminated after finishing 16th in the heat in 13:58.81.

Unfortunately, neither Ahmed, Nur, nor Grijalva would stop to talk to the media to explain what happened.

But the major expected medal contenders including Grant Fisher, all three Kenyans, all three Ehtiopians, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and 2022 bronze medallist Oscar Chelimo of Uganda  made the final as did American Graham Blanks. Ingebrigtsen won heat 2 in 13:51.59 while his compatriot Narve Nordås, who said last night he didn’t think he’d run the 5000, won heat 1 in 14:08.16.

In other action at the Stade de France on Wednesday morning, all of the big names in the men’s 800 advanced to the semifinals, led by Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who was fastest of all in 1:44.64.  Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui, the dominant winner of heat 6 in 1:44.81, also looked very strong, while Olympic favorite Djamel Sedjati of Algeria won heat 4 in 1:45.84 thanks to his signature kick.

“Training has been going very well so I expect something for this Olympics,” said Wanyonyi.

Two of the three Americans advanced, with Bryce Hoppel and Hobbs Kessler (15 hours after the 1500 final) making it through but Brandon Miller fading and getting sent to the repechage. And if you are looking for someone else to root for in the repechage round, may we suggest Belgium’s Pieter Sisk? He is one of you after all: a LetsRun.com reader. In the mixed zone, Sisk came up to us to let us know he is a big fan of the website.

In the first heat of the repechage women’s 1500, 18-year-old Birke Haylom of Ethiopia, the 2022 world junior champ, ran like an idiot produced one of the fastest 800m splits in women’s running history, going out in 2:02.89 for 800 (58.86 first lap) before holding on to a heat win in 4:01.47.

Below, nine thoughts on the morning’s action.

*Full results

Hugo Hay: “If I am the guy that is guilty, I will apologize”

The officials were left with some decisions to make after the 5,000 prelims as six men fell. To add all of them to the final would push the race to 22 athletes and perhaps set the stage for even more falls in the final on Saturday.

The big incident was the fall involving Mills entering the final 100 of the first heat. Mills, running in eighth place (the top eight advanced automatically with no time qualifiers), was trying to move past France’s Hugo Hay to his inside when Hay extended his arm to push Mills away. That sent Mills tumbling into Ndikumwenayo, and as they went down, Lobalu and Foppen, running directly behind them, could not avoid them and hit the track as well.

All 3 Kenyans, Jacob Krop, Edwin Kurgat, and Ronald Kwemoi, qualified and will advance to the Men’s 5000m final, but there was a drama towards the end of heat 1. pic.twitter.com/tqBAv38kJR

— Wanjiku Reports (@WanjikuReports) August 7, 2024

After the race, an incensed Mills got in Hay’s face to criticize his actions, and he said after the race he felt he had room to run and it was “pretty clear” what happened.

“I wouldn’t go for a gap if it wasn’t there,” Mills said. “That would just be dumb because you’d waste your energy and you’d miss out. I pulled onto the outside, and there was space.”

Hay qualified by finishing 7th in the heat and said he did not feel he had fouled Mills but said he would apologize if the video proved otherwise.

“I will just watch the image, and if I am the guy that is guilty, I will apologize…I just hope that I didn’t do anything and I will not be disqualified,” Hay said.

He also had no issue with Mills getting in his face after the race.

“That’s normal to react like this,” Hay said. “You know, we are in [Olympic] semifinals. There is the adrenaline and stuff.”

It is strange the officials did not advance Nur or Ahmed

Advancing Lobalu and Foppen was a no-brainer as they were clearly wiped out by Mills through zero fault of their own. It was harder to tell what, exactly, happened to Nur and Ahmed because the TV angles were not clear and neither stopped in the mixed zone. But it looked as if both fell after being clipped by another runner. Usually when that happens, the faller is advanced, particularly when they are in qualifying position late in the race – and Ahmed was in 7th with under 500 to go while Nur was in 4th with just 100 to go.

Did the officials not want to add two more people to the final, pushing the number of participants to 22? Whether the final is 20 men or 22, it is still going to be very crowded, which means the environment is ripe for another fall or two.

Today’s two heats – the first with 20 runners, the second with 19 – certainly was ripe for some falls and that’s exactly what happened. Perhaps running three heats with the top five from each heat advancing should have been done.

With Nur’s fall, he may have gone down after hitting Ethiopia’s 12:49 man Addisu Yihune, who was running in front of him to the inside, as Yihune looked over his shoulder right before Nur went down. It’s hard to tell who is at fault but it’s possible Yihune was starting to move out wide as he ended up finishing in lane 2. Yihune did not have a good final 100 and barely made the final by just 0.05.

Grant Fisher said he had one glass of champagne after his bronze medal and is treating the 10,000 and 5,000 as two different meets

As he did between the 10,000 and 5,000 at the Olympic Trials, Grant Fisher, who was 4th in heat 2 in 13:52.44, left the host city and went up to altitude in between (a trip that was delayed this time because he had to stay for his medal ceremony on Saturday evening).

“I wish I could have teleported there and back and not have the travel. But once I got up there, I was really happy to just be relaxed, out of the ruckus of Paris, and reset and just be in a beautiful place, beautiful setting, and get my mind ready for the “second meet.”

As for Fisher’s post-race celebrations after the 10k, which were the subject of some speculation? He said he enjoyed an “intimate celebration” with family and friends, but his alcohol consumption did not go beyond a single glass of champagne.

“I wasn’t at the club or anything,” Fisher said.

With Kiplimo and Cheptegei sitting the 5000 out, with Kejelcha not being selected, and now with Ahmed and Grijalva out of the final and Ronald Kwemoi dealing with a hamstring injury (more on that below) Fisher has an amazing opportunity for another medal.

Graham Blanks had to scrap a calculus class this summer to run at the Olympics

When Blanks finished 4th at the Olympic Trials in June, he knew he had a good shot at the Olympic team because third placer Parker Wolfe did not have the Olympic standard. But when he found out he had officially made the team, he had to scrap his other summer plan, which was taking a math class at Harvard. Blanks is taking multivariable calculus this fall but had not taken a math class since his freshman year so was taking calculus this summer to prepare.

“Thankfully Harvard made an exemption for me to get a full refund,” Blanks said. “…I promise I’ll be ready for that class.”

Instead, Blanks flew to St. Moritz, got in a few weeks of altitude training, and now feels ready to rock after finishing 6th in his semi to advance to his first Olympic final.

“When I got back down to Paris, I was like, wow, I still built a lot of fitness [in St. Moritz] and I’m feeling better,” Blanks said. “…There are levels to this sport. There’s guys that can run 12:30s. But if it’s a fast race, I’m just going to try to hang on. I flew all the way out to Paris, so I might as well get a pb and fight for a medal.”

Blanks said he’s been loving the Olympic experience and getting to wear the Team USA kit everywhere in the village.

“I really do feel like a big dog in there walking around in the USA gear,” Blanks said.

But Blanks is still humble. One morning, he saw Kenyan 1500 star Timothy Cheruiyot at breakfast but did not approach him.

“I didn’t say anything because I was too nervous,” Blanks said.

Narve Nordås sucked it up because it’s the Olympics Games and won his heat

Last night after finishing 7th in the 1500, Nordås said he didn’t expect he’d show up for the 5000 heats this morning but there he was and in the end he won his heat. He explained why he changed his mind.

“Yeah, it was training partner/coach/agent [being] like, ‘Don’t give a shit about the rest of the season. It’s the Olympics. Maybe [you aren’t] gonna run more Olympics. So take your chances. I know you’re going to feel terrible tomorrow but try to get some sleep and go on that starting  line. And if you get through tomorrow, then you get three days of rest and recovery and then suddenly everything can happen on Saturday,” said Nordås.

“[I] felt really dreadful in the warm up and really tired the first few laps but then I was,Yeah, this is just an extended warm up and I can just use it to get ready for that fast finish. And I did so yeah, I was surprised nobody really went with me.”

Kenyan champ Ronald Kwemoi is a big wild-card at these Olympics. 

Kwemoi is big-time talent who ran 3:28 for the 1500 at age 18 in 2014. In 2016, famed Italian coach Renato Canova told us there was a 100% chance that Kwemoi would win the 5000 at the 2020 Olympics but he didn’t even make Kenya’s team as injuries have stalled his career. After finishing just 10th in the 10,000 at the Pre Classic, he won the 5,000 but hadn’t raced since then (June 15).

Kwemoi revealed today that he’s been dealing with a hamstring injury

“Right now I feel good. The last two months. I had an injury – hamstring but now I’m ok,” said Kwemoi.

Morgan McDonald thought he had qualified but missed out by .05

Australia’s Morgan McDonald was only 12th with 150 to run in heat 2 but he saw a gaping hole open on the rail and felt he was well-positioned to take advantage. He moved up a bit and thought he would end up in the top five. When he crossed the finish line, he was convinced he had qualified.

But, unbeknownst to McDonald, a bunch of guys had been kicking hard in lanes 3 and 4 and he was totally unaware. He was actually 9th, .05 out of making his first Olympic final.

Afterwards, we asked McDonald if he should have leaned. 

“Probably. Honestly,  I don’t want to say. I’ve gotta watch the tape…I was sprinting all-out. I guess I’ve gotta work on my dips.”

Bryce Hoppel thought he was ready to run 1:41 in Monaco but missed the meet due to COVID. He thinks he can do it at the Olympics instead.

Hoppel’s training partner Hobbs Kessler revealed earlier in the meet that he got COVID right after the Olympic Trials – he presumed from celebrations at the famed Eugene track bar, the Wild Duck – and today Hoppel said he also got COVID right after the meet. Hoppel said it hit him “pretty hard” and as a result he chose not to race Monaco on July 12. But Hoppel said training has been going very well since then and believes he is ready to do something big in Paris.

“I was pretty confident I was going to go 1:41 [in Monaco] and break the American record,” Hoppel said. “Just had some setbacks with illness and stuff. So that was a little frustrating, but we’re gonna make it happen here and it will be exciting to get those times run fast here at the Olympics.”

Brandon Miller is bound for the gulag in the 800

Miller was in a good spot in his heat, 2nd with 300 to go, but when he was challenged for position, he did not respond well and wound up fading to 8th in his heat in 1:46.34. Now he will have to run the repechage – aka the gulag – on Thursday morning.

“I’m more fit than what I showed out there…I just didn’t respond when I needed to,” Miller said.

The repechage is particularly brutal in the 800. If anyone can successfully make it out of the repechage and into the final, they will have run four races in four days.

“Obviously it puts you at a disadvantage running an extra round, that’s why you don’t want to go through the repechage, but I’ve got to play the cards I was dealt and do my best to take advantage of it,” Miller said.

Talk about the action on our world-famous messageboard.

• Weds. Aug. 7th Morning Session Thread? 
• George Mills should be DQ’d 
• 5000m heats falls, shoves and failures catch-up guide
• How many 5000 protests will advance to the finals? 
• Graham Blanks 5000m finalist 
• We have our Repechage heroine – Birke Haylom went out in 2:02.89 in a 1500. Is that the fastest 800 split in a women’s 1500?