Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, who took gold in the 10,000 meters earlier in the week, got off to a fast start in the 5,000 meter final Friday night as she looked to complete a double last achieved in 2008 by fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba. But Ayana was unable to maintain the blistering pace she set at the start, and in the end Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot and Helen Obiri managed to take gold and silver, respectively.
Ayana would take bronze, with Cheruiyot’s time of 14:26.17 shattering the Olympic record by more than 14 seconds. All three medalists finished with times better than the Olympic record of 14:40.