Cheptegei's 5000m World Record Attempt in the Spotlight in Monaco
The 2020 Wanda Diamond League season will resume with a special meet in Monaco as Meeting Herculis takes place on Friday (14).
Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei, the reigning World champion in the 10000m, will attempt to break Kenenisa Bekele's 16-year-old 5000m World record.
It has been 16 years since Bekele clocked the stunning 12:37.35 and since then, no man except Bekele himself has come close to the record.
Cheptegei's personal best time on the track is 12:57.41 which is almost 20 seconds slower than the World record. However, Cheptegei himself and his team believe that he is in the best form of his career and ready to break the World record.
Last year in Valencia on December 1st, Cheptegei set a new 10km World record on the roads with 26:32. Just six weeks later, the Ugandan ran a solo 12:51 to break the road 5km World record.
“He’s in the best shape ever,” Cheptegei's agent van der Velden told Letsrun.com. “We know the 5k world record will be very tough for him because he’s more endurance-based than speed-based, but he made such a progression in the last two years in speed work that we say, yeah, this is the time.”
Monaco has been a special place for runners as several World records have been set in recent years. And that is one of the reasons why Cheptegei chose the Louis II Stadium to attack Bekele's legendary record.
Recent World records in Monaco: In 2015 Genzebe Diabab set the 1500m World record. Beatrice Chepkoech two years ago broke the women's 3000m steeplechase World record while last year Sifan Hassan did the same in the women's mile.
The men's 5000m takes place at 21:15 local time / 19:15 GMT and the viewers from around the world will be able to watch it on YouTube or local TV. See the live streaming and TV broadcast info here.
Other action to follow in Monaco:
Men's 200m World champion Noah Lyles will take on former global champion Ramil Guliyev.
Armand Duplantis vs Sam Kendricks in the pole vault.
The women's 5000m has a very strong field with with Sifan Hassan, Hellen Obiri, Letesenbet Gidey, Shannon Rowbury and Konstanze Klosterhalfen.
The men’s 1,500m will see a clash between Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot, Norway's Jakob and Filip Ingebrigsten, and American Craig Engels.
Uganda's Halimah Nakaayi the surprise winner at the last year's World Championships 800m final will face British athletes Laura Muir, Jemma Reekie, Kenyan Faith Kipyegon and American Raevyn Rogers in the 1,000m.
Other stars to compete in Monaco are Karsten Warholm (400m hurdles), Donovan Brazier, (800m), Yulimar Rojas (triple jump), Grant Holloway (110m hurdles), Katharina Johnson-Thompson and more.
