With an indoor 5000m personal best of 13:10.96 from 2012 (Dusseldorf), ’16 Rio Olympic 5000m 7th placer Albert Rop had already established himself as a world-class indoor contender. In the top field assembled for the Birmingham 5000m, billed at Mo Farah‘s last indoor event of his career, Rop joined the front pack that went through 1000m in 2:36.80 and 2000m in 5:15.90 (13:09.7 pace). By 3000m, it was down to four contenders, Rop, Farah, Morhad Amdouni, and Soufiani El Bakkali. Farah eventually took the lead with two laps to go on the oval in Barclaycard Arena, but Rop remained in close contention, and only in the last 200m did Farah secure his victory with his signature kick. Farah’s winning time of 13:09.16 improved his own European indoor record, while Rop (representing Bahrain) was just a step behind to establish a new Asian Record of 13:09.43. As Amdouni and El Bakkali ran 13:10.60 and 13:11.18, respectively, the top-4 finishers now occupy the top-4 spots on the ’17 indoor season 5000m chart.
Other Personae-managed athletes competing in Birmingham included Hillary Ngetich in the 1500m (5th in 3:18.19 / ’17 world no. 7), Noelie Yarigo in the 800m (5th in 2:03.67), and Anne Zagre in the 60m Hurdles (7th in final, 4th in heat in 8.07).
Noteworthy results from prior ’17 indoor competitions so far have included Hillary Ngetich’s win in the Dusseldorf 3000m on 1 Feb (7th in 7:44.73 / ’17 world no. 10) and Anne Zagre’s victory in the Metz 60m Hurdles on 12 Feb (7.98 national record and ’17 Europe no. 6).