1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 5000 metres

These are the official results of the men's 5000 metres event at the 1983 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. There were a total of 39 participating athletes, with three qualifying heats, two semi-finals and the final held on Sunday 14 August 1983.[1]

Men's 5000 metres
at the 1983 World Championships
VenueHelsinki Olympic Stadium
Dates10 August (heats)
12 August (semi-finals)
14 August (final)
Competitors39
Winning time13:28.53 CR
Medalists
gold medal    Ireland
silver medal    East Germany
bronze medal    Finland
1987 →

Records edit

Existing records at the start of the event.

World Record   David Moorcroft (GBR) 13:00.41 Oslo, Norway July 7, 1982
Championship Record New event

Results edit

Qualifying heats edit

The qualifying heats took place on 10 August, with the 39 athletes involved being split into 3 heats. The first 8 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 6 fastest ( q ) qualified for the semifinals.

Heat 1
Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Markus Ryffel   Switzerland (SUI) 13:43.36 Q, CR
2 Wodajo Bulti   Ethiopia (ETH) 13:43.53 Q
3 Eamonn Martin   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 13:43.57 Q
4 Thomas Wessinghage   West Germany (FRG) 13:43.66 Q
5 Anatoliy Krokhmalyuk   Soviet Union (URS) 13:43.78 Q
6 Salvatore Antibo   Italy (ITA) 13:44.05 Q
7 Charles Cheruiyot   Kenya (KEN) 13:44.43 Q
8 Doug Padilla   United States (USA) 13:44.71 Q
9 Filippos Filippou   Greece (GRE) 13:45.24 q
10 Abderrazak Bounour   Algeria (ALG) 13:57.93 q
11 Justin Gloden   Luxembourg (LUX) 14:26.02 q
12 Mohamed Bakheet   Palestine (PLE) 14:52.26
13 Ramón López   Paraguay (PAR) 15:10.29
Heat 2
Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Paul Kipkoech   Kenya (KEN) 14:18.73 Q
2 Fethi Baccouche   Tunisia (TUN) 14:23.79 Q
3 Julian Goater   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 14:23.93 Q
4 António Leitão   Portugal (POR) 14:28.63 Q
5 Dmitriy Dmitriyev   Soviet Union (URS) 14:37.75 Q
6 Ronald Lanzoni   Costa Rica (CRC) 14:49.20 Q
7 Werner Schildhauer   East Germany (GDR) 14:49.22 Q
8 Jim Hill   United States (USA) 14:58.21 Q
9 Antoine Nivyobizi   Burundi (BDI) 15:14.60
10 José Jaime Hernández   El Salvador (ESA) 15:29.86
11 Alden Morris   Turks and Caicos Islands (TKS) 18:06.35
Christoph Herle   West Germany (FRG) DNS
Mohamed Kedir   Ethiopia (ETH) DNS
Heat 3
Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Valeriy Abramov   Soviet Union (URS) 14:12.61 Q
2 Seyoum Nigatu   Ethiopia (ETH) 14:13.22 Q
3 Dietmar Millonig   Austria (AUT) 14:13.65 Q
4 Eamonn Coghlan   Ireland (IRL) 14:13.80 Q
5 Dave Clarke   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 14:13.97 Q
6 Jorge García   Spain (ESP) 14:14.57 Q
7 Paul Williams   Canada (CAN) 14:15.10 Q
8 Jim Spivey   United States (USA) 14:15.70 Q
9 Ricardo Vera   Uruguay (URU) 14:17.26 q
10 Kenji Ide   Japan (JPN) 14:18.34 q
11 Martti Vainio   Finland (FIN) 14:18.74 q
12 Masini Situ-Kubanza   Zaire (ZAI) 15:02.26
Hansjörg Kunze   East Germany (GDR) DNS

Semifinals edit

The semifinals took place on 12 August, with the 30 athletes involved being splitted into 2 heats. The first 5 athletes in each heat ( Q ) and the next 5 fastest ( q ) qualified for the final.

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Markus Ryffel   Switzerland (SUI) 13:32.34 Q, CR
2 Thomas Wessinghage   West Germany (FRG) 13:32.37 Q
3 Werner Schildhauer   East Germany (GDR) 13:32.49 Q
4 Dietmar Millonig   Austria (AUT) 13:32.86 Q
5 Doug Padilla   United States (USA) 13:32.90 Q
6 Paul Kipkoech   Kenya (KEN) 13:33.33 q
7 Julian Goater   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 13:36.21 q
8 Anatoliy Krokhmalyuk   Soviet Union (URS) 13:37.24 q
9 Filippos Filippou   Greece (GRE) 13:40.81
10 Paul Williams   Canada (CAN) 13:50.30
11 Dave Clarke   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 13:58.37
12 Seyoum Nigatu   Ethiopia (ETH) 14:02.23
13 Kenji Ide   Japan (JPN) 14:04.94
14 Justin Gloden   Luxembourg (LUX) 14:12.25
15 Ronald Lanzoni   Costa Rica (CRC) 14:47.30
Heat 2
Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
1 Dmitriy Dmitriyev   Soviet Union (URS) 13:31.40 Q, CR
2 Eamonn Coghlan   Ireland (IRL) 13:31.66 Q
3 António Leitão   Portugal (POR) 13:32.33 Q
4 Wodajo Bulti   Ethiopia (ETH) 13:33.03 Q
5 Salvatore Antibo   Italy (ITA) 13:33.12 Q
6 Valeriy Abramov   Soviet Union (URS) 13:33.37 q
7 Martti Vainio   Finland (FIN) 13:34.18 q
8 Jim Hill   United States (USA) 13:38.56
9 Jim Spivey   United States (USA) 13:43.17
10 Jorge García   Spain (ESP) 13:46.36
11 Eamonn Martin   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 13:48.60
12 Charles Cheruiyot   Kenya (KEN) 13:52.61
13 Abderrazak Bounour   Algeria (ALG) 14:00.78
14 Fethi Baccouche   Tunisia (TUN) 14:19.64
15 Ricardo Vera   Uruguay (URU) 14:20.20

Final edit

As in most other major international championships, also this 5,000-metre final was mostly slow and tactical. The Soviet Union's Anatoliy Krokhmaliuk led at 1,000 metres in 2:43.30. During the second kilometre, he and his team mate Dmitriy Dmitriyev alternated in the lead, with Dmitriyev clocking 5:34.15 at 2,000 metres. One lap later, Britain's Julian Goater suddenly accelerated, but over 200 metres after the start of his surge, Dmitriyev caught him. Soon thereafter, Dmitriyev again took the lead, and clocked 8:19.52 at 3,000 metres. During the fourth kilometre, Dmitriyev, Ethiopia's Wodajo Bulti, and Switzerland's Markus Ryffel took turns leading the race. With over three laps left, Krokhmaliuk dropped from the lead group. Bulti took the lead for the second and the last time just before 4,000 metres, which he passed in 11:03.27. At the start of the third-last home straight, Dmitriyev accelerated past Bulti. West Germany's Thomas Wessinghage and Ireland's Eamonn Coghlan positioned themselves behind Dmitriyev and Bulti. With two laps left, twelve men were still in the lead group, with Goater and Italy's Salvatore Antibo having dropped from Dmitriyev's pace. On the second-last back straight, the Soviet Union's Valeriy Abramov lost contact with the lead group. Dmitriyev launched his final kick's decisive stage at 4,400 metres. Immediately Ryffel, Portugal's Antonio Leitao, and Austria's Dietmar Millonig dropped from Dmitriyev's pace. At the start of the second-last home straight, Dmitriyev was already sprinting about five metres ahead of Bulti. Later on that home straight, Wessinghage and Coghlan kicked past Bulti, and Coghlan passed Wessinghage. At 4,600 metres, Dmitriyev led in about 12:30. In other words, he had sprinted the second-last lap in about 57 seconds! Coghlan was running about six or seven metres behind this Soviet runner, with Wessinghage, Bulti, Finland's Martti Vainio, the United States' Doug Padilla, East Germany's Werner Schildhauer, and Kenya's Paul Kipkoech still in the lead group. To the surprise of many spectators, Wessinghage dropped from Coghlan's pace on the final lap's front bend. This astonishing event - Wessinghage was a world-class runner at both 1,500 and 5,000 metres - probably inspired Vainio to start his final kick, and to pass Bulti. Further back, Kipkoech dropped from Padilla's and Schildhauer's pace. Early on the final back straight, Coghlan easily caught the tiring Dmitriyev. Vainio kicked past the exhausted Wessinghage. At 4,800 metres, Dmitriyev and Coghlan were running about nine metres ahead of Vainio. On the final bend, Schildhauer passed Padilla and Wessinghage, and dashed after Vainio. Coghlan triumphantly raised his right hand, glanced at the worn out Dmitriyev, and then began his final sprint. By the start of the home straight, Coghlan had already stretched his lead over Dmitriyev to four metres. Vainio was sprinting ten metres behind the Irishman, while Schildhauer was kicking a couple of metres behind the Finn. On the final home straight, without even sprinting as fast as he could, Coghlan moved into a wide lead, crossing the finish line in 13:28.53. In other words, he had run the final 1,000 metres in 2:24.77! Schildhauer passed Vainio with about 25 metres left, and caught Dmitriyev over 10 metres later. The exhausted Soviet runner was no match for the fast-finishing East German. Vainio leaned forward, and lunged across the finish line, crossing it just 0.04 seconds before Dmitriyev. Two of the strongest pre-race favourites, Padilla and Wessinghage, had to settle for the fifth and sixth places, respectively. (The World Track and Field Championships / Yleisurheilun MM-kisat 1983, the Juoksija-lehti / Runner Magazine, Helsinki, Finland, 1983; another book on the IAAF World Championships 1983; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIy0Jpm9moE&t=510s Eamonn Coghlan - World Athletics Championship 5000m Gold, Helsinki 1983.)

The final took place on August 14.

Rank Name Nationality Time Notes
  Eamonn Coghlan   Ireland (IRL) 13:28.53 CR
  Werner Schildhauer   East Germany (GDR) 13:30.20
  Martti Vainio   Finland (FIN) 13:30.34
4 Dmitriy Dmitriyev   Soviet Union (URS) 13:30.38
5 Doug Padilla   United States (USA) 13:32.08
6 Thomas Wessinghage   West Germany (FRG) 13:32.46
7 Wodajo Bulti   Ethiopia (ETH) 13:34.03
8 Dietmar Millonig   Austria (AUT) 13:36.08
9 Paul Kipkoech   Kenya (KEN) 13:37.44
10 António Leitão   Portugal (POR) 13:38.55
11 Valeriy Abramov   Soviet Union (URS) 13:39.80
12 Markus Ryffel   Switzerland (SUI) 13:39.98
13 Salvatore Antibo   Italy (ITA) 13:40.76
14 Julian Goater   Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) 13:48.13
15 Anatoliy Krokhmalyuk   Soviet Union (URS) 14:00.27

References edit

  1. ^ World Athletics Statistics HandBook Oregon 2022. World Athletics (2013). Edited by Mark Butler. Retrieved on 2022-07-09.