Ethiopian Golden boy Muktar Edris storms Doha

Had it not been for the fact he had a wild card entry as the defending champion, Muktar Edris most likely wouldn’t have even made it to Doha.
The Ethiopian was ranked just 17th in his country this year for the 5000m. He had two appearances on the IAAF Diamond League circuit this year, finishing 11th in Oslo over 3000m and 18th in Lausanne over 5000m. Before that, he had failed to finish the 10,000m at the Ethiopian Championships.
But his wild card entry meant that Edris could defend the title he won in 2017 when he ended Mo Farah’s streak of world titles. After winning here in Doha, the 25-year-old has kick-started a winning streak of his own at the World Athletics Championships.
From the outset it was clear that Edris and his Ethiopian teammates – Selemon Barega and Telahun Haile Bekele – were utilising team tactics to their advantage in their quest to beat the likes of Paul Chelimo of the USA and the Ingebrigtsen brothers of Norway.
Though packed with the distance’s heavy weights, Jakob made the decisive move with 300 metres to go and American Chelimo tried to go with him. Muktar meanwhile, was closing on the lead quartet. Approaching the home straight, Salomon and Muktar moved past Jakob into the lead, hitting their top gear. Both sprinting for the line, Muktar merant to his second World Champion Gold hung by his teeth edged ahead of Salomon with about 40 meters remaining and crossed the line in 12:58.85, having covered the final 1000m in 2:24.92. It was just the third time in World Championships history that the 5000m title was won with a sub-13-minute time. Edris also joins Farah and Ismael Kirui as a multiple winner of the world 5000m title.
Salomon took silver in 12:59.70 while Ahmed earned bronze in 13:01.11, Canada’s first ever 5000m medal at the World Championships. Telahun was fourth in 13:02.29, while a struggling Jakob managed to throw himself over the line to finish fifth in 13:02.93, 0.15 ahead of Kenyan teenager Jacob Krop. “It was great to see all the people cheering for us,” Muktar stated. “With fans like that, you have to win all the time.”