2019 World Athletics Championships – Men's 10,000 metres

Seventeen of twenty one starters were born in East Africa, a familiar situation for long distance events. Here the Kenyan team of Rhonex Kipruto and Rodgers Kwemoi took to the front to keep the pace honest with returning silver medalist Joshua Cheptegei, the heir apparent after the track retirement of Mo Farah, ever present at the front. By the 5,000 metre mark at 13:33.20 (27:07 pace), only 10 had fallen off the back. Nine more laps, Cheptegei took over the point and only two more fell off the back, though Hagos Gebrhiwet, Yemaneberhan Crippa and Lopez Lomong were just hanging on and soon to go. Behind Cheptegei, the 19 year old Kipruto and the tall figure of the new indoor mile record holder Yomif Kejelcha looking like he was waiting to unleash that shorter distance speed. After Mohammed Ahmed fell off the back with 500 metres to go, the group was still five, single file, with Cheptegei driving the train. Running through traffic at the bell, Kwemoi and Andamlak Belihu couldn't keep up and it looked like the medalsts were decided. Down the final backstretch, Kejelcha moved tight onto Cheptegei's shoulder then into a slight lead. The gap left Kipruto running for bronze. As they entered the final turn Cheptegei kept Kejelcha on his outside, while he ran the shorter distance along the rail. Coming off the turn, Cheptegei had the speed, separating slightly but continually from Kejelcha, growing to a 5 metre lead by the finish.

Before the competition records were as follows:[2]

World record	Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)	26:17.53	Brussels, Belgium	26 August 2005
Championship record	Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)	26:46.31	Berlin, Germany	17 August 2009
World Leading	Hagos Gebrhiwet (ETH)	26:48.95	Hengelo, Netherlands	17 July 2019
African Record	Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)	26:17.53	Brussels, Belgium	26 August 2005
Asian Record	Ahmad Hassan Abdullah (QAT)	26:38.76	Brussels, Belgium	5 September 2003
North, Central American and Caribbean record	Galen Rupp (USA)	26:44.36	Eugene, United States	30 May 2014
South American Record	Marilson Gomes dos Santos (BRA)	27:28.12	Neerpelt, Belgium	2 June 2007
European Record	Mo Farah (GBR)	26:46.57	Eugene, United States	3 June 2011
Oceanian record	Ben St. Lawrence (AUS)	27:24.95	Palo Alto, United States	1 May 2011

The following records were set at the competition:

Record	Perf.	Athlete	Nat.	Date
World leading	26:48.36	Joshua Cheptegei	UGA	6 Oct 2019
Canadian	26:59.35	Mohammed Ahmed	CAN
Italian	27:10.76	Yemaneberhan Crippa	ITA

The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 27:40.00.[3]

Only 18 qualifiers did it in the period: Onesphore Nzikwinkunda (BDI) 28:11.90, Rodrigue Kwizéra (BDI), and Thierry Ndikumwenayo (BDI), were qualified during Cross Country Championships (top finishing position at designated competitions – automatically qualifies, irrespective of whether his performance has reached the Entry Standard). Soufiane Bouchikhi and Yeman Crippa were invited to complete the event for Ranking.

The event schedule, in local time (UTC+3), was as follows:[4]

The race started on 6 October at 20:04.[5]

Rank	Name	Nationality	Time	Notes
	Joshua Cheptegei	Uganda (UGA)	26:48.36	WL
	Yomif Kejelcha	Ethiopia (ETH)	26:49.34	PB
	Rhonex Kipruto	Kenya (KEN)	26:50.32
4	Rodgers Kwemoi	Kenya (KEN)	26:55.36	PB
5	Andamlak Belihu	Ethiopia (ETH)	26:56.71
6	Mohammed Ahmed	Canada (CAN)	26:59.35	NR
7	Lopez Lomong	United States (USA)	27:04.72	PB
8	Yemaneberhan Crippa	Italy (ITA)	27:10.76	NR
9	Hagos Gebrhiwet	Ethiopia (ETH)	27:11.37
10	Shadrack Kipchirchir	United States (USA)	27:24.74	SB
11	Alex Korio	Kenya (KEN)	27:28.74	PB
12	Sondre Nordstad Moen	Norway (NOR)	28:02.18
13	Leonard Korir	United States (USA)	28:05.73
14	Soufiane Bouchikhi	Belgium (BEL)	28:15.43
15	Aron Kifle	Eritrea (ERI)	28:16.74
16	Rodrigue Kwizera	Burundi (BDI)	28:21.92	PB
17	Abdallah Kibet Mande	Uganda (UGA)	28:31.49
18	Onesphore Nzikwinkunda	Burundi (BDI)	29:11.50
	Hassan Chani	Bahrain (BHR)	DNF
	Thierry Ndikumwenayo	Burundi (BDI)
	Julien Wanders	Switzerland (SUI)