AthleticsAthletics world record
5000 m, men
12 min 35.36 s
- Holder
- Joshua Cheptegei
- Date
- Place
- Monaco
- Standing since
- 2020 (6 years)
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How the record evolved
The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).
| Year | Record | Holder |
|---|---|---|
| 12 min 35.36 s | Joshua Cheptegei | |
| 12 min 37.35 s | Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) | |
| 12 min 39.36 s | Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) | |
| 12 min 58.39 s | Saïd Aouita (MAR) | |
| 13 min 08.4 s | Henry Rono (KEN) | |
| 13 min 16.6 s | Ron Clarke (AUS) | |
| 13 min 35.0 s | Vladimir Kuts (URS) | |
| 13 min 58.2 s | Gunder Hägg (SWE) | |
| 14 min 08.8 s | Taisto Mäki (FIN) | |
| 14 min 28.2 s | Paavo Nurmi (FIN) | |
| 14 min 36.6 s | Hannes Kolehmainen (FIN) | |
| 15 min 29.8 s | Charles Bennett (GBR) | |
| 16 min 29.2 s | George Touquet-Daunis (FRA) |
Put them in order
Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.
- 13 min 08.4 sHenry Rono (KEN)
- 12 min 35.36 sJoshua Cheptegei
- 16 min 29.2 sGeorge Touquet-Daunis (FRA)
- 14 min 08.8 sTaisto Mäki (FIN)
What to remember
Twelve and a half laps of a 400 m track: at the Herculis meeting in Monaco on August 14, 2020, Joshua Cheptegei covered them in 12 min 35.36 s, an average of 23.830 km/h.
The first time on record dates from 1899: 16 min 29.2 s by George Touquet-Daunis of France. The record then went to Hannes Kolehmainen (14 min 36.6 s in 1912), Paavo Nurmi (1924), Gunder Hägg (13 min 58.2 s in 1942), Ron Clarke (1966), Saïd Aouita (12 min 58.39 s in 1987), Haile Gebrselassie (12 min 39.36 s in 1998) and Kenenisa Bekele (12 min 37.35 s in 2004). Across 121 years the time dropped by 23.6%.
The 5000 m has been an Olympic event since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. The Ugandan added the 10,000 m record later the same year, becoming the tenth man to hold both at once. He also became Olympic 5000 m champion in Tokyo. On the women's side, Beatrice Chebet set the world record on July 5, 2025 in Eugene.
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Sources and licences
- Value, holder and date: Wikipedia article “List of world records in athletics” (revision used 1378411308). Data from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo: Eckhard Pecher ( Arcimboldo ), Photo licensed under CC BY 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons).
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