RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Hot favorite Almaz Ayana suddenly slumped in the final stages, allowing Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya to surge past and win the women's 5,000 meters in an Olympic record on Friday.
That gave Cheruiyot revenge for her second-place finish behind the Ethiopian in the 10,000 meters a week ago.
Cheruiyot timed her attack with less than two laps to go, suddenly closing a big gap Ayana had opened and speeding away for gold in 14 minutes 26.17 seconds, just over 14 seconds better than the previous Olympic mark. It was the 32-year-old Cheruiyot's first Olympic gold after a silver and a bronze at the London Games and that silver behind in the 10,000 in Rio.