2016 Summer Olympics / Athletics - 3000 m obstacle (men)

sport	athletics
discipline	3000 meter obstacle course
gender	Men
Attendees	45 athletes from 25 countries
Competition location	Estádio Nilton Santos
Competition phase	August 15, 2016 (preliminary) August 17, 2016 (final)
Medalist Conseslus Kipruto ( KEN )   Evan Jager ( USA )   Mahiedine Mekhissi ( FRA )

The men's 3000 meter obstacle course at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was held on August 15 and 17, 2016 at the Estádio Nilton Santos . 45 athletes took part.

The Kenyan Conseslus Kipruto became Olympic champion . The American Evan Jager won silver , the French Mahiedine Mekhissi won the bronze medal.

Athletes from Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein did not take part.

Current title holders

Olympic champion	Ezekiel Kemboi ( Kenya )	8: 18.56 min	London 2012
World Champion		8: 11.28 min	Beijing 2015
European champion	Mahiedine Mekhissi ( France )	8: 25.63 min	Amsterdam 2016
North / Central America / Caribbean champions	Andrew Bayer ( USA )	8: 44.88 min	San José 2015
South America champion	Gerald Giraldo ( Colombia )	8: 29.53 min	Lima 2015
Asian champion	John Kibet Koech ( Bahrain )	8: 27.03 min	Wuhan 2015
African champions	Chala Beyo ( Ethiopia )	8: 21.02 min	Durban 2016
Oceania Champion	Sapolai Yao ( Papua New Guinea )	9: 39.74 min	Cairns 2015

Existing records

World record	Saif Saaeed Shaheen ( Kenya )	7: 53.63 min	Brussels , Belgium	September 3, 2004
Olympic record	Julius Kariuki ( Kenya )	8: 05.51 min	Final from Seoul , South Korea	September 30, 1988

Note: All times are based on Rio local time ( UTC-3 ).

Preliminary round

The athletes competed in a total of three heats. The first three athletes of each run qualified for the final. In addition, the six fastest drivers, the so-called lucky losers , made it through. The directly qualified runners are highlighted in light blue, the lucky losers in light green.

Forward 1

Scene from the first run

Scene from the first run

August 15, 2016, 10:25 am

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Hillary Bor	United States	8: 25.01
2	Soufiane el-Bakkali	Morocco	8: 25.17
3	Ezekiel Kemboi	Kenya	8: 25.51
4th	Matthew Hughes	Canada	8: 26.27
5	Sebastian Martos	Spain	8: 28.44
6th	Benjamin Kiplagat	Uganda	8: 30.76
7th	Halil Akkaş	Turkey	8: 33.12
8th	Hailemariyam Amare	Ethiopia	8: 35.01
9	Nelson Cherutich	Bahrain	8: 35.01
10	Yuri Floriani	Italy	8: 40.80
11	Kazuya Shiojiri	Japan	8: 40.98
12	Rob Mullett	Great Britain	8: 48.19
13	Jeroen D'hoedt	Belgium	8: 48.29
14th	Mitko Zenow	Bulgaria	8: 54.79
DSQ	Ali Messaoudi	Algeria		IAAF Rule 163.3 b - Violation of the inside marking

• 

  With his sixth place in the first heat, Benjamin Kiplagat from Uganda missed the final

• 

  The Turk Halil Akkaş finished seventh in his preliminary run and was eliminated

• 

  Fourteenth place was by far not enough for the Bulgarian Mitko Tsenow to take part in the finals

Forward 2

August 15, 2016, 10:40 a.m.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Evan Jager	United States	8: 25.86
2	Brimin Kiprop Kipruto	Kenya	8: 26.25
3	Mathiedine Mekhissi	France	8: 26.32
4th	Yemane Haileselassie	Eritrea	8: 26.72
5	Hamid Ezzine	Morocco	8: 27.69
6th	John Kibet Koech	Bahrain	8: 28.81
7th	Chala Beyo	Ethiopia	8: 32.0
8th	Aras Kaya	Turkey	8: 32.35
9	José Peña	Venezuela	8: 32.38
10	Chris Winter	Canada	8: 33.95
11	Bilal Tabti	Algeria	8: 38.87
12	Abdullah Bamoussa	Italy	8: 42.81
13	Kaur Kivistik	Estonia	8: 44.25
14th	Abdalla Targan	Sudan	8: 52.20
15th	Abdelaziz Merzougui	Spain	9: 03.40

Forward 3

Tarık Langat Akdağ, who started for Turkey, could not finish his preliminary run

August 15, 2016, 10:55 am

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Conseslus Kipruto	Kenya	8: 21.40
2	Jacob Araptany	Uganda	8: 21.53
3	Donald Cabral	United States	8: 21.96
4th	Cupid Ben Yahia	Tunisia	8: 23.12
5	Yoann Kowal	France	8: 23.49
6th	Altobeli da Silva	Brazil	8: 26.59
7th	Hicham Sigueni	Morocco	8: 27.82
8th	Hicham Bouchicha	Algeria	8: 33.61
9	Taylor Milne	Canada	8: 34.38
10	Krystian Zalewski	Poland	8: 34.52
11	Ole Hesselbjerg	Denmark	8: 40.08
12	Mohamed Ismail Ibrahim	Djibouti	8: 53.10
13	Fernando Carro	Spain	8: 53.17
DSQ	Seboka coffee table	Ethiopia		IAAF Rule 163.3 b - Violation of the inside marking
DNF	Tarık Langat Akdağ	Turkey

final

Scene from the finale: in
front Conseslus Kipruto, next to him Jacob Araptany

Scene from the finale: in
front Kipruto, directly behind Evan Jager (with glasses)

Scene from the finale:
Hillary Bor and Yoann Kowal at the moat

August 17, 2016, 11:55 am

All three Kenyans and three Americans qualified. There were also two Moroccans and one participant each from Brazil, Eritrea, France, Canada, Tunisia and Uganda.

The favorites were Kenyans Ezekiel Kemboi - Olympic Champion 2004 and 2012 , World Champion 2015 , Brimin Kiprop Kipruto - Olympic Champion 2008 - and Conseslus Kipruto - Vice World Champion 2015. Mahiedine Mekhissi, the French European Champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist - 2008 and 2012 - and the US athlete Evan Jager were considered the Kenyans' strongest opponents.

Right at the start of the race, Conseslus Kipruto took the lead and set the pace, followed by Jager. The first kilometer was run very quickly with 2: 41.64 minutes. After almost 1500 meters Jager took the lead, Kipruto let himself be pulled and there was a gap to the rest of the field. The chasing group was led by US runner Hillary Bor, who replaced Kemboi at their head. Bor was able to close the gap to the two leaders. The second kilometer was completed in 2: 44.18 minutes, the race remained very fast and so there were many smaller groups with smaller and larger gaps between each other.

On the penultimate crossing of the moat, a group of three with Jager, Kemboi and Kipruto had clearly separated. At the beginning of the last lap, Conseslus Kipruto initiated a long spurt and took the lead. Kemboi in second and Jager in third were still able to keep up with the pace. But at the end of the back straight, Kipruto was too fast for his pursuers. With a large margin he turned into the home straight and in the end just let the race coast down. He became Olympic champion and set a new Olympic record with 8: 03.28 minutes . He covered the last thousand meters in 2: 37.46 minutes. In the battle for silver, Kemboi was initially ahead. But on the home straight he ran out of strength and Jager easily pulled past him. The American secured the silver medal while Kemboi covered the last fifty meters at a jogging pace. His lead over the closest pursuers was so great that he finished third. Behind him, Mekhissi crossed the finish line ahead of Moroccan Soufiane El-Bakkali and his compatriot Yoann Kowal. Brimin Kiprop Kipruto and Hillary Bor took the following ranks.

Immediately after the race, the French team management protested. Kemboi is said to have crossed the inside markings after the moat. The protest was accepted and Kemboi was disqualified. The bronze medal thus went to Mekhissi, and all subsequent athletes moved up one place in the ranking.

Conseslus Kipruto won the eleventh Kenyan gold medal in this discipline. It was also the ninth consecutive Olympic victory for Kenya.

space	Surname	nation	Time (min)	annotation
1	Conseslus Kipruto	Kenya	8: 03.28	OR
2	Evan Jager	United States	8: 04.28
3	Mahiedine Mekhissi	France	8: 11.52
4th	Soufiane el-Bakkali	Morocco	8: 14.35
5	Yoann Kowal	France	8: 16.75
6th	Brimin Kiprop Kipruto	Kenya	8: 18.79
7th	Hillary Bor	United States	8: 22.74
8th	Donald Cabral	United States	8: 25.81
9	Altobeli da Silva	Brazil	8: 26.30
10	Matthew Hughes	Canada	8: 36.83
11	Yemane Haileselassie	Eritrea	8: 40.68
DSQ	Cupid Ben Yahia	Tunisia		IAAF Rule 163.3 b Violation of the inside marking
	Ezekiel Kemboi	Kenya
DNF	Jacob Araptany	Uganda
	Hamid Ezzine	Morocco

• 

  Olympic Champion:
  Conseslus Kipruto, Kenya

• 

  Silver Medal Winner:
  Evan Jager, USA

• 

  Bronze medal winner:
  Mahiedine Mekhissi from France

• 

  The Moroccan Soufiane El-Bakkali Kowal finished in the Olympics

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  The French Yoann Kowal finished fifth in the final

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  The Kenyan Brimin Kiprop Kipruto was sixth in the Olympics

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  The two Americans Hillary Bor and Donald Cabral came in seventh and eighth

• 

  The Brazilian Altobeli da Silva reached ninth place

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  Canadian Olympic tenth Matthew Hughes

• 

  Ezekiel Kemboi from Kenya was disqualified for breaking the inside marking

Web links

• Results Book Rio 2016, official report at library.olympic.org, accessed October 4, 2018
• Results on the website of the World Athletics Federation IAAF (English), accessed on October 4, 2018
• Sports-Reference, Result 3000 m obstacle men (English), accessed on October 4, 2018

Video

• Kipruto sets Olympic record in Men's 3000m Steeplechase on youtube.com, published August 21, 2016, accessed October 4, 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Beijing 2015, page 674 , accessed on October 4, 2018
2. ↑ ^{a b c} IAAF competition rules, page 73 (PDF), accessed on October 4, 2018