Men's 5000m World Record
12:37.35
Kenenisa Bekele
May 31st 2004
Grand Prix
Hengelo, Netherlands
What a year! Two 5000m world records, indoor (12:49.60) and outdoor (12:37.35); Olympic gold and an Olympic record; a world record in the 10,000m; and two more titles in the World Cross Country Championships.
The fast-finishing Kenenisa Bekele is following in the footsteps of his hero, and fellow Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie. Both men have a strong claim for being the greatest long-distance runner. Gebrselassie holds the marathon world record, but Bekele is coming up on his shoulder: all three world records (and the Olympic record) set by him in 2004 lowered a mark recorded by Gebrselassie.
Bekele appears to be an unstoppable force.
Women's 5000m World Record
Tirunesh Dibaba
14:11.15
Tirunesh Dibaba
July 6th 2008
Grand Prix
Oslo, Norway
The early pace was set by Anna Alminova, who passed 1000m in 2:48.08 and 2000m in 5:43.64, before Dibaba’s sister, Ejegayehu, took command. The Dibaba siblings and Lucy Wangui of Kenya were well clear of the field at 3km, but were three seconds behind the world record's schedule.
However, moments later Dibaba hit the front, injected a furious pace, and was one second ahead of world record pace by 4km. She was relentless over the final two-and-a-half laps and stopped the clock in 14:11.15, shattering Meseret Defar’s mark by a staggering 5.48 seconds (subject to ratification).