Olympic 5k & 1500 meter preview

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Today is a women’s distance fans dream with both the 5k and 1500 meter finals on the track. The start lists have been posted and the preliminaries are done. All that is left is for the athletes to run the race. Here is who to watch.

5,000 meters- The 5,000 meter race is going to be another battle in the war between Kenya and Ethiopia in distance running. Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot will be looking to get revenge after finishing with a bronze to her Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba. Dibaba was added to the field after the winning the 10k.  She is looking to pull the same double she did Beijing in 2008. She might be able to do it. The difference this time might be that Cheruiyot will come to the line as the reigning World champion and wants a gold medal after her defeat in the 10k. Cheruiyot teammates are strong too. Sally Kipyego (who trains with the Oregon Track Club) won silver in the 10k. Dibaba and Cheruiyot will also have to keep an eye on Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar who was the 2004 winner in Athens and third in Beijing. American Julie Culley and Molly Huddle will be looking to PR and pull off a heroic race to place high.  

1500 meters- Is this Morgan Uceny’s redemption race? Lolo Jones might have tripped over a hurdle but Uceny was tripped up on the track at the World Championship last year after being ranked number one in the world. The Ethiopian, Abebe Aregawi will stand in the way.  She has had a very strong spring seasons on the track  First her country women,  Genzebe Dibaba won her first race of the season with a runaway 3:57.77 victory and  not far behind was Aregawi to her first sub-4:00 performance. Dibaba followed up with a strong 4:00.85 in Rome. She was soon beaten by Aregawi several times the rest of the season. Dibaba did not make it to the final. Ekaterina Kostetskaya (3:59.28), a 2011 World 800m finalist, leads a strong Russian entry. USA’s Shannon Rowbury will also be a strong competitor

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• Olympics
• Track & Field
• Summer Games

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