Grant Fisher, who wasn’t satisfied with his second-place finish in the 10,000-meter U.S. championship in May, finally won his first national title Sunday. Photo by Kevin Neri
The men’s 5,000-meter final at the USATF Outdoor Championships on Sunday morning contained a strong field, where eight finishers held the world standard. Looking to avoid a chaotic final dash to the line, Grant Fisher knew he had to make it hurt.
As Fisher entered the bell lap, he had over a 20-meter lead on second and third places. Fourth place sat over 50 meters behind. Fans of the Bowerman Track Club, Fisher’s club, released a roar as Fisher made his way around the curve.
Seems like Fisher got the race he wanted.
Fisher utilized the breakneck pace to win his first U.S. championship in 13 minutes, 3.86 seconds, breaking the meet record previously held by Paul Chelimo. Fisher’s teammate Woody Kincaid finished second in 13:06.70, and Northern Arizona University’s Abdihamid Nur rounded out the top three in 13:08.63
“I wanted to make people think that maybe today is not their day,” said Fisher. “I was stoked with it — it turned into a real 5K and we ran fast.”
Fisher had finished second at the USATF 10K Championships in May. Even with a spot already secured to the World Athletics Championships, Fisher wanted more.
“That 10K stung,” said Fisher. “I was not happy at all with it. … I’ve wanted a U.S. title for a while.”
The honest race resulted in the top five finishers running under the world standard even though it was 86 degrees on the track thermometer when it started at about 11 a.m. Evan Jager led the field through 3K in 7:56, with Fisher, Emmanuel Bor, Chelimo, the bronze medalist in Tokyo, and Nur in hot pursuit.
With around a mile left, Jager stepped off the track, which allowed Bor to move into the lead. His lead was short-lived — Fisher firmly positioned himself in front and took off with three laps to go. Bor and Nur went with him, establishing a gap between the rest of the field. Chelimo and Kincaid held off.
Nur and Kincaid made the right choice. Bor and Chelimo did not. Fisher dropped Bor and Nur by the last 400 meters, but they still had a comfortable lead over Kincaid and Chelimo. Chelimo never found his kick, but Kincaid ran a blistering 54.2-second bell lap. He passed Bor on the last 200 meters, and caught Nur in the final 100.
“I don’t think there was any time where I was like, ‘I’m gonna catch these guys,’” said Kincaid. “With 500 to go I was just like, ‘I’m just gonna catch as many people as I can.’”
Chelimo, finishing uncharacteristically in 11th, said the race’s pace was fine, but when the moves were made in the final laps, he couldn’t react.
“When they started changing gears, my legs just couldn’t keep up,” said Chelimo. “I’m mad at myself.”
Six members of BTC were in the final. Fisher and Kincaid both noted the advantages of having multiple teammates in the race.
“There actually was a plan,” said Kincaid. “We have a lot of guys. It’s one of the benefits we have with Bowerman. Evan (Jager) got into the race for a reason — he’d already made the team.”
The reason was to push the pace. Jager secured his trip to July’s championships on Saturday, finishing second in the steeplechase. Jager told Fisher that if the pace was pedestrian, he’d push it. The plan clearly worked, and Fisher won’t soon forget it.
“I’m thankful that he came back and helped us out,” said Fisher. “Drinks on me. Dinner on me.”
