Galen Rupp Shatters The American 10,000 Record By Running 

26:48.00

Rupp Is Now The 16th-Fastest Man In History; Kenenisa Bekele Wins With World-Leading 26:43.16

By LetsRun.com

September 16, 2011

Editor's note: This is a recap of the men's 10,000 at the 2011 Brussels Diamond League meeting only.

25-year-old Galen Rupp shattered the American record for 10,000 meters by running 26:48.00 on Friday night in Brussels, eclipsing the 26:59.60 that Chris Solinsky set last year on May 1st. In getting the AR, Rupp finished third in the race, which was won by Kenenisa Bekele in a 2011 world-leading time of 26:43.16.

Rupp was up front in the lead pack throughout the race that saw the 5k  passed in 13:26.63. With 4 laps remaining (22:36 for Rupp, meaning his last 1,600 was 4:11 and change), there was a lead pack of seven still in contention and it seemed as if Rupp was almost certain to get the AR. With 800 left (24:45 for Rupp), there was no doubt about the record, as Rupp looked full of run and moved into second place and it soon became a three-person race. On the penultimate lap, Kenenisa Bekele responded and passed Rupp with roughly 550 meters remaining to move into second himself as Bekele and Kenya's Lucas Rotich soon separated themselves from Rupp. At the bell (25:47 for Rupp), Galen was about 3 meters back of the leading duo and that gap would only widen until the finish as the Africans battled it out for the win.

With 220 meters remaining, Bekele went to the front and went on to get the win in 26:43.16 to Rotich's 26:43.98.

Rupp's 26:48.00 puts him very high on the all-time lists. He is now the 16th-fastest man in history at 10,000 and his 26:48.00 was the 29th-fastest 10,000 ever run in history. For comparison's sake, Chris Solinsky's old AR is only the 81st-fastest 10,000 ever run and Solinsky is now the 39th-fastest man in history.

After the race, the European television coverage we were watching was rightly focused on Bekele but we did catch a glimpse of Rupp embracing his coach Alberto Salazar in the stands.

The commentators interviewed a buoyant Bekele who admitted that coming back from nearly two years away from the track had been incredibly hard. "It's fantastic (to win today). It was really tough to comeback. I want to thank God for giving me the power to get back," said Bekele. The commentators then asked if they could say the real Kenenisa was back and he answered, "Yes."

5 Quick Takes

QT #1: Rupp and Salazar deserve a lot of props for getting the AR.

QT #2: It was very exciting to watch, but we don't know why so many people had seemingly written Rupp off. This is a guy that took Imane Merga's scalp in July, and in the year 2011, the guy who finishes 7th at Worlds is likely to be a sub-27 guy.

QT #3: We hate to point out anything negative on a special day like today, but the finish of this race reminded us in some ways of the men's 5,000 final at Worlds, when Rupp's kick left him 5.28 seconds short. Here Rupp lost out by 4.74.

QT #4: This race reminded us in many ways of this year's Pre Classic 10,000, which was won by Mo Farah in 26:46.57 with a last km of 2:30.72. Here, the last km was 2:29.44.

QT #5: Someone tell us why this race wasn't broadcast live in the US by universalsports.com?

Read more: http://www.letsrun.com/2011/brussels-2648.php#ixzz1YEp1bwPm