Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase


The Men's 3000 metres steeplechase competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The event was held at the Olympic Stadium on 3–5 August.
The steeplechase has become a national event of Kenya. Their team tactics dominate major championship races. For the first 5 laps, they let others dominate the lead, primarily led by Americans Donald Cabral and Evan Jager. Then the Kenyans decided to move as a team, leaving the field to chase. With less than 800 metres to go, Ugandan Benjamin Kiplagat got tangled up on a barrier and fell flat on his face, the runners behind him having to scramble. 200 metres later, Kenyan Brimin Kipruto fell. Though he quickly scrambled to his feet, that effectively ruined the chances for a Kenyan sweep. Still the other two led through the final lap. Former gold medalist and multiple world champion Ezekiel Kemboi pulled away off the front. As Abel Mutai began to falter, Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad sprinted past to repeat his silver medal. Kemboi's lead was secure and after clearing the final barrier, he began to celebrate, drifting out to lane 8 by the time he crossed the finish line.
After the finish, Kemboi did the victory dance he has become known for. He and Mekhissi-Benabbad exchanged jerseys and the diminutive Kemboi leaped into the much larger Mekhissi-Benabbad's arms.

Competition format

The Men's 3000 m steeplechase competition consists of heats and a Final.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time
DateTimeRound
Friday, 3 August 201213:00Round 1
Sunday, 5 August 201221:25Finals

Records

, the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.
World record7:53.63Brussels, Belgium3 September 2004
Olympic record8:05.51Seoul, South Korea30 September 1988
2012 World leading7:54.31Rome, Italy31 May 2012

The following National records were set during this competition.
Turkey National Record8:17.85 s
Venezuela National Record8:24.06 s

Results

Round 1

Qual. rule: first 4 of each heat plus the 3 fastest times qualified.

Heat 1

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad8:16.23Q
2Evan Jager8:16.61Q
3Abel Mutai8:17.70Q
4Tarik Langat Akdag8:17.85Q, NR
5Nahom Mesfin Tariku8:18.16q, SB
6Benjamin Kiplagat8:18.44q
7Amor Ben Yahia8:22.70PB
8José Peña8:24.06NR
9Ali Ahmed Al-Amri8:26.22SB
10Hicham Sigueni8:35.89
11Angel Mullera8:38.07
12Alberto Paulo8:40.74
13Steffen Uliczka8:41.08

Heat 2

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Brimin Kipruto8:28.62Q
2Yuri Floriani8:29.01Q
3Brahim Taleb8:29.02Q
4Jukka Keskisalo8:29.13Q
5Nikolay Chavkin8:29.72
6Youcef Abdi8:29.81
7Jacob Araptany8:35.85
8Vincent Zouaoui-Dandrieux8:36.96
9Kyle Alcorn8:37.11
10Artem Kosinov8:42.27
11Mario Bazan8:51.95
12Abdelaziz Merzougui8:58.20
-Birhan GetahunDNF

Heat 3

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
1Roba Gari8:20.68Q
2Ezekiel Kemboi8:20.97Q
3Hamid Ezzine8:21.25Q
4Donald Cabral8:21.46Q
5Ion Luchianov8:22.09q, SB
6Mohamed Khaled Belabbas8:22.32SB
7Alex Genest8:22.62SB
8Vadym Slobodenyuk8:23.35
9Łukasz Parszczyński8:30.08
10Weynay Ghebresilasie8:37.57
11Albert Minczér8:40.74SB
12Stuart Stokes8:43.04
-Víctor GarciaDNF

Final

RankAthleteNationalityTimeNotes
Ezekiel Kemboi8:18.56
Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad8:19.08
Abel Mutai8:19.73
4Roba Gari8:20.00
5Brimin Kipruto8:23.03
6Evan Jager8:23.87
7Hamid Ezzine8:24.90
8Donald Cabral8:25.91
9Tarik Langat Akdag8:27.64
10Ion Luchianov8:28.15
11Brahim Taleb8:32.40
12Nahom Mesfin Tariku8:35.12
13Yuri Floriani8:40.07
Jukka KeskisaloDNF
Benjamin KiplagatDQR 163.3b*

* Infringement of the inside border.