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Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase

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Men's 3000 metres steeplechase
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueJapan National Stadium
Dates30 July 2021 (round 1)
2 August 2021 (final)
Competitors44 from 22 nations
Winning time8:08.90
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Soufiane El Bakkali  Morocco
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lamecha Girma  Ethiopia
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Benjamin Kigen  Kenya
← 2016
2024 →

The men's 3000 metres steeplechase event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 30 July and 2 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium.[1] 45 athletes competed.[2]

Summary

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Kenya had won this event every time it participated in the Olympics since 1968, 11 times, 9 times in a row after boycotting 1976 and 1980. That symbol of national pride placed a giant target on their back from every other country trying to win this event. 2021 looked like a good chance for Kenya's neighbor and distance running rival, Ethiopia, Lamecha Girma holding the number one and three of the top 5 times in the world coming into the Olympics.

15 men qualified through a tough round of heats. On home soil, Ryuji Miura set the Japanese National Record. A slow third heat left, among others, one Kenyan and one Ethiopian runner to watch the final from the stands.

True to form in most championships, the final started slowly with Ethiopians Girma and Getnet Wale controlling the pace from the front. About 1K in, Miura injected a little more speed, but the Ethiopians went back to the point, marked by the Kenyan duo of Abraham Kibiwott and Benjamin Kigen along with Kenyan born American Benard Keter. As they approached 3 laps to go, Girma made an effort to speed up the race, the field stringing out behind them, with only the two Ethiopians, the two Kenyans breaking away with Soufiane El Bakkali going on the back of the leaders for the ride. Through the penultimate lap, both Kenyans showed signs of weakness, losing contact on the remaining three at the bell. Duplicating the strategy of Ezekiel Kemboi, El Bakkali accelerated over the first barrier of the backstretch. Wale struggled to keep up and Kigen sprinting to regain contact as his country's last hope. Entering the final turn, El Bakkali caught Girma. With both athletes taking the water jump cleanly, behind them as Kigen was catching Wale, his lead foot caught Wale's back kick and Wale was down. Kigen quickly regained his balance while Wale lost all momentum and his chance at a medal. After gaining the advantage, El Bakkali sprinted away from Girma to take the gold with Kigen getting the bronze.[3] El Bakkali’s gold medal was the first Olympic or Worlds gold in 34 years—going back to the 1987 World Championships in Athletics—to be won by a non-Kenyan-born athlete.

Background

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This was the 24th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since 1920.

Qualification

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A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 3000 metres steeplechase event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 8:22.00. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 45 is reached.[2][4]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Both indoor and outdoor meets are eligible. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[2][5]

NOCs cannot use their universality place in the 3000 metres steeplechase.[2]

Competition format

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The event continued to use the two-round format introduced in 2012.[6]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing global and area records were as follows.

World record  Saif Saaeed Shaheen (QAT) 7:53.63 Brussels, Belgium 3 September 2004
Olympic record  Conseslus Kipruto (KEN) 8:03.28 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 17 August 2016
World Leading  Lamecha Girma (ETH) 8:07.75 Fontvieille, Monaco 9 July 2021
Area Time (s) Athlete Nation
Africa (records) 7:53.64 Brimin Kipruto  Kenya
Asia (records) 7:53.63 WR Saif Saaeed Shaheen  Qatar
Europe (records) 8:00.09 Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad  France
North, Central America
and Caribbean
(records)
8:00.45 Evan Jager  United States
Oceania (records) 8:14.05 Peter Renner  New Zealand
South America (records) 8:14.41 Wander Moura  Brazil

The following national records were established during the competition:

Country Athlete Round Time Notes
Japan  Ryuji Miura (JPN) Heats 8:09.92
India  Avinash Sable (IND) Heats 8:18.12

Schedule

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All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The men's 3000 metres steeplechase took place over two separate days.[1]

Date Time Round
Friday, 30 July 2021 9:00 Round 1
Monday, 2 August 2021 19:00 Final

Results

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Heats

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Note: First 3 in each heat (Q) and the next 6 fastest (q) advance to the Final.

Heat 1

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Lamecha Girma  Ethiopia 8:09.83 Q
2 Ryuji Miura  Japan 8:09.92 Q, NR
3 Benjamin Kigen  Kenya 8:10.80 Q, SB
4 Ala Zoghlami  Italy 8:14.06 PB, q
5 Mohamed Tindouft  Morocco 8:15.91 q
6 John Gay  Canada 8:16.99 PB, q
7 Djilali Bedrani  France 8:20.23 (.223)
8 Mason Ferlic  United States 8:20.23 (.226)
9 Albert Chemutai  Uganda 8:29.81
10 Vidar Johansson  Sweden 8:32.86
11 Karl Bebendorf  Germany 8:33.27
12 Carlos San Martín  Colombia 8:33.47
13 Phil Norman  Great Britain 8:46.57
Fernando Carro  Spain DNF
- John Koech  Bahrain - DNF

Heat 2

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Abraham Kibiwot  Kenya 8:12.25 Q
2 Getnet Wale  Ethiopia 8:12.55 Q
3 Ahmed Abdelwahed  Italy 8:12.71 Q
4 Matthew Hughes  Canada 8:13.56 SB, q
5 Yemane Haileselassie  Eritrea 8:14.63 SB, q
6 Benard Keter  United States 8:17.31 PB, q
7 Avinash Sable  India 8:18.12 NR
8 Sebastián Martos  Spain 8:23.07
9 Ryoma Aoki  Japan 8:24.82
10 Abdelkarim Ben Zahra  Morocco 8:28.63 SB
11 Edward Trippas  Australia 8:29.90
12 Louis Gilavert  France 8:36.35
13 Emil Blomberg  Sweden 8:39.57
14 Zak Seddon  Great Britain 8:43.29
15 Hicham Bouchicha  Algeria 8:44.75

Heat 3

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1 Soufiane El Bakkali  Morocco 8:19.00 Q
2 Topi Raitanen  Finland 8:19.17 Q, SB
3 Alexis Phelut  France 8:19.36 Q
4 Osama Zoghlami  Italy 8:19.51
5 Leonard Bett  Kenya 8:19.62
6 Hillary Bor  United States 8:19.80
7 Ben Buckingham  Australia 8:20.95 PB
8 Ole Hesselbjerg  Denmark 8:24.08
9 Tadese Takele  Ethiopia 8:24.69
10 Altobeli da Silva  Brazil 8:29.17
11 Simon Sundström  Sweden 8:29.84
12 Kosei Yamaguchi  Japan 8:31.27
13 Daniel Arce  Spain 8:38.09
14 Matthew Clarke  Australia 8:42.37

Final

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Rank Athlete Nation Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Soufiane El Bakkali  Morocco 8:08.90
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Lamecha Girma  Ethiopia 8:10.38
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Benjamin Kigen  Kenya 8:11.45
4 Getnet Wale  Ethiopia 8:14.97
5 Yemane Haileselassie  Eritrea 8:15.34
6 Matthew Hughes  Canada 8:16.03
7 Ryuji Miura  Japan 8:16.90
8 Topi Raitanen  Finland 8:17.44 SB
9 Ala Zoghlami  Italy 8:18.50
10 Abraham Kibiwott  Kenya 8:19.41
11 Benard Keter  United States 8:22.12
12 Alexis Phelut  France 8:23.14
13 Mohamed Tindouft  Morocco 8:23.56
14 Ahmed Abdelwahed  Italy 8:24.34
15 John Gay  Canada 8:35.41

References

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  1. ^ a b "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Morocco's el Bakkali gets steeplechase gold as Kenyan streak ends". MSN. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  4. ^ "IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes". BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Athletics Explanatory Guide" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. August 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.