Dejen Gebremeskel defeats Bernard Lagat to win fourth consecutive Carlsbad victory
Carlsbad, CA- Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel notched up his fourth consecutive victory at the 29th annual Carlsbad 5000 road race, crossing the line in 13:13 and coming home five seconds ahead of local favourite Bernard Lagat here yesterday.
Employing two hard, sustained surges inside the final kilometre of the race, Gebremeskel left Lagat, who was racing in Carlsbad for the first time, trailing in his wake but the latter held on for second in 13:18, breaking Marc Davis’ long-standing US best of 13:24, set in 1996.
Kenya’s Augustine Choge finished third in 13:22.
Women’s Race
In the women’s elite race, Great Britain’s Julia Bleasdale made her second trip to Carlsbad a memorable one, with a win in 15:06.
Kenya’s Betsy Saina finished a distant second in 15:22 while Ethiopia’s Etalemhu Habtewold took third in 15:23. The 2013 IAAF World Championships 800m bronze medalist Brenda Martinez was the top American finisher in fourth, running 15:25 for a 19-second improvement on her fifth-place finish here last year.
Both of the world 5km road bests were set in Carlsbad: 13:00 by Kenya’s Sammy Kipketer in both 2000 and 2001, while Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar ran 14:46 for the women’s best in 2006.
Read more at: IAAF.org
