| Fastest in the world before Moscow was Meseret Defar, but she opted for the 5000m, while the fastest over that event was Dibaba, who went for the 10,000m, a title she had won twice before and at both the World Championships and Olympic Games. The 27° heat militated against a fast time, as did history. Not since 1991 had the race been run with a faster first half. Moscow 2013 was no exception, with Flanagan then Niiya the principal leaders. The Japanese led a group of nine ast the photo-cell beam at 5000m in 15:30.38 (15:30.44 by transponder). Niiya kept setting the pace with Dibaba settled in second place. Five laps from the finish, the lead group was down to five, Niiya, two Ethiopians and two Kenyans. At the start of the penultimate homestraight, Dibaba moved into the lead with only Cherono and Oljira able to follow. The imperious Ethiopian steadily built up a margin of more than 10m with her transponder-timed last lap of 59.92 (59.96 on photo-cell). Cherono was a clear second, with Oljira just holding off Chebet for third. The winner joined Valerie Adams, Allyson Felix and Maria Mutola as the only women to have won three individual world championships in a single event. Their record lasted only another 24 hours before Adams won her fourth title in the shot put. This turned out to be the final race for the front-running Niiya, who later announced her retirement because of a persistent foot injury |
