5000 m

Twelve and a half laps from a curved start line, no lanes. It is the shorter of the two long-distance track events and the one where a fast last lap decides the most medals: the best can close in under 55 seconds after 4600 metres of running. Championship races often stay bunched until the final kilometre, with the pace dropping to a jog in the middle laps while everyone waits. Record attempts are a different sport, paced evenly from the gun, usually behind pacemakers or the light system on the inside kerb, and a few of the fastest times were run almost alone. Twelve and a half minutes for the best men, fourteen for the best women.