Dathan Ritzenhein breaks American men's 5000 meter record

Dathan Ritzenhein shown in the
men's 2008 Olympic Marathon.

Dathan Ritzenhein broke the 13 year old record of Bob Kennedy, becoming only the third American under 13 minutes in the 5000 meter, with a new American record of 12:56.27. His time lowers the record by nearly two full seconds, and represents a 20 second improvement on his own personal best.

Running in last for more than half of the way, Ritzenhein put on a late race surge to move into second, and even briefly appear to challenge Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, in the men's 5000 meter race at Weltklasse Zürich in Switzerland. Bekele led all competitors from start to finish, following two paid pace setters for the first 3000 meters, before setting out after a possible attack on his own world record. With two laps remaining, Ritzenhein moved from sixth to second, and with 600 meters remaining looked like he might catch Bekele. Ritzenhein was passed in the final 200 meters by Kenyan Edwin Cheruiyot Soi, to drop into third.

Ritzenhein's time was the second fastest ever run by a non-African. Ritzenhein finished ninth in last year's men's Olympic Marathon, 6th place last week in the men's 10000 meter at the World Championships in Berlin, the first American in each race. Now he has set an America record in the men's 5000 meter, Ritzenhein demonstrates a masterful range of distance running performance. At age 27, Ritzenhein still has the potential for several more years of dominance in the sport.