By Hussain Almaskati. Bahrain's Last Push for Gold in Tokyo Worlds Bahrain's Birhanu Balew booked his place in the men's 5000m final at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025, clocking 13:41.75 to finish third in his heat today. The 29-year-old edged Britain's George Mills by just 0.01 seconds t
Bahrain’s Last Push for Gold in Tokyo Worlds
Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew booked his place in the men’s 5000m final at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025, clocking 13:41.75 to finish third in his heat today. The 29-year-old edged Britain’s George Mills by just 0.01 seconds to claim one of the eight automatic qualifying spots in a tightly packed field. The final is set for tomorrow at 1:47pm Bahrain time.
His heat featured some of the biggest names in long-distance running, including Ethiopia’s Biniam Mehary, France’s Jimmy Gressier, US star Grant Fisher, and reigning Olympic and world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway. Mehary took the heat win in 13:41.52, followed by Gressier in 13:41.64.
Men’s 5000m Heat 2 – Tokyo 25
Position
Athlete
Country
Time
1
Biniam Mehary
ETH
13:41.52
2
Jimmy Gressier
FRA
13:41.64
3
Birhanu Balew
BRN
13:41.75
4
George Mills
GBR
13:41.76
5
Valentin Soca
URU
13:41.80
6
Grant Fisher
USA
13:41.83
7
Yann Schrub
FRA
13:42.00
8
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
NOR
13:42.15
Bahrain’s Championships So Far
Balew is the last Bahraini in action at Tokyo 2025. Earlier this week, Winfred Yavi claimed silver in the women’s 3000m steeplechase in 8:56.46, while Salwa Eid Naser secured bronze in the women’s 400m with a time of 48.19 in a historic sub-48 final.
Nelly Jepkosgei also competed, running 2:02.79 in the women’s 800m heats but missing out on the semi-finals.
In the 5000m semi yesterday, Balew finished approximately 53 seconds off his season and personal best of 12:48.67 set earlier this year in Paris. While advancing to the medal race confirmed his place among the world’s elite, the final result reflected either tactical pacing or a lack of peak form heading into the concluding day of the championships.
