EUGENE, Oregon – With just over half of the race behind him, Oregon alum Galen Rupp sat near the middle of the pack in the men’s 5,000 meters. The clock on the scoreboard ticked past 7 minutes, 30 seconds, and Rupp decided it was time to make his move.
“I think everybody was feeling pretty good at that point,” said Rupp. “It was a big pack and the race was pretty tactical up to that point, so I knew that I had to try to make a little bit of a longer drive.”
Rupp made his move, but was unable to hang on for the victory.
Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, who had won the event at the World Junior Championships at Hayward Field in 2014, won the race in 13:10.55, a personal best by 15 seconds and the fastest 5,000-meter time in the world this season.
Rupee settled for third behind Kenya’s Edwin Cheruiyot Soi. He crossed the line in 13:12.36, less than a second behind Soi, who finished in 13:11.97.
“I did my best, tried to do what I thought I needed to do to win,” said Rupp. “I will just take this going forward, make the right adjustments in training and go from there.”
The leaders broke from the pack as they crossed the 800-meter point. Surging up the right side of the group, Rupp moved up to second place behind Soi. Law Lalang, a first-time runner in the Prefontaine Classic, sat right behind Rupp, who had no intention of falling back into the pack.
“A lot of those guys I know have some pretty great kicks in them, so I didn’t want to wait until 200 or 300 meters to go,” said Rupp. “I just wanted to make sure whenever I went that it was decisive.”
For a few moments, it seemed that Rupp might have made his push to the front too soon. As the finish line drew nearer, Lalang moved past Rupp on the right side, followed by Kejelcha.
Sitting back in fifth place with just two laps to go, Rupp found another gear and surged back to the front, taking the lead as the bell rang and the pack entered the last lap.
It was then that Kejelcha kicked, and he kicked hard.
Coming down the back side with just over 200 meters to go, Kejelcha broke away from the group and opened up a lead on Rupp and Soi, who themselves had created a bit of separation from the pack in the last 400 meters.
The three front-runners kicked around the Bowerman Curve, Kejelcha staying a few strides ahead of the rest, leaving Rupp and Soi to battle it out in the last 100 meters. Soi broke free and finished just a second behind Kejelcha.
“I was really happy with how this race ended up — I know my strength is great right now,” said Rupp. “This was great practice for some of the big meets coming up, and I really know where I’m at now. It was just really good to be back out there.”
