02.09.2007

Not to be for Buster

An arduous, tactical men’s 5000m final has seen Craig Mottram finish 13th in Australia’s final event of the 11th IAAF World Championships.

Forced to stick with the pack at a grinding pace or risk being overrun later, the 27 year-old was gradually worn down by the African stars and had little left in the tank when they kicked heading into the final lap.

Kenyan-born American Bernard Lagat, who also took Wednesday night’s 1500m final, thrived in the late charge to win in 13:45.87, followed by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (13:46.00) and Ugandan Moses Kipsiro (13:46.75).

It was a disappointing end for the Helsinki 2005 bronze medallist who finished in 13:56.24, numbed by the race and its outcome.

"There is obviously a problem there, don’t know what though," Mottram told SBS. "I haven’t been right the last couple of weeks. It’s not mental, physically there is something not right."

Mottram finished a solid and promising fourth in his heat on Thursday, run in slightly quicker circumstances but with the competitors - at that stage - purely focused on saving their best practice for the final.

As identified by coach Nic Bideau after that race, it was Mottram’s plan too.

"I don’t know what to say," the latter stated tonight. "I couldn’t go. I went to the front, which doesn’t bother me - I was happy with that.
 
"Usually I can wind it up, wind it up when I feel the pressure coming, but I just couldn’t go.
 
"I was comfortable running 66 to 67s, but then you’ve got to go 60s and it’s hard.

"But I’ll come back, we’ll be right."

Mottram held second place to 2005 world champion Benjamin Limo for much of the early stages and, though the pace was lagging, was moving freely.

At around the halfway mark, Limo had a clear move sideways to force Mottram into the lead.

But he accommodated it, leading at the 3000m mark before another of his nemeses, Ethiopian Tariku Bekele, made his move to the front with about four laps to go and raised the pace a peg.

It was then that the Australian slid into the box and seventh place before his training partner, Somalian-born Brit Mo Farah, almost took a tumble when his heels were clipped.

Mottram faded soon after as the pack swelled, falling to 11th even though the race was still churning with two laps to run.

It was inside the final lap that the kick began for many of the runners. Lagat’s was the strongest, running down Kipchoge in the final straight for his second world title of the meet.

As obvious as Lagat’s kick was Mottram’s endeavour, but the big man was left to ponder a battle lost.

Listen to Craig's post-race comments
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