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 (Round 1) and a Final.

Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+1) Date Time RoundFriday, 3 August 2012 13:00Round 1Sunday, 5 August 2012 21:25Finals

Records , the existing World and Olympic records were as follows.

World record7:53.63Brussels, Belgium3 September 2004Olympic record8:05.51Seoul, South Korea30 September 19882012 World leading7:54.31Rome, Italy31 May 2012

The following National records were set during this competition.

Turkey National Record8:17.85 sVenezuela National Record8:24.06 s

Results

Round 1

Qual. rule: first 4 of each heat (Q) plus the 3 fastest times (q) qualified.

Heat 1

Rank Athlete Nationality Time Notes 1 Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad 8:16.23 Q 2 Evan Jager 8:16.61 Q 3 Abel Mutai 8:17.70 Q 4 Tarik Langat Akdag 8:17.85 Q, NR 5 Nahom Mesfin Tariku 8:18.16 q, SB 6 Benjamin Kiplagat 8:18.44 q 7 Amor Ben Yahia 8:22.70 PB 8 José Peña 8:24.06 NR 9 Ali Ahmed Al-Amri 8:26.22 SB 10 Hicham Sigueni 8:35.89 11 Angel Mullera 8:38.07 12 Alberto Paulo 8:40.74 13 Steffen Uliczka 8:41.08

Heat 2

Rank Athlete Nationality Time Notes 1 Brimin Kipruto 8:28.62 Q 2 Yuri Floriani 8:29.01 Q 3 Brahim Taleb 8:29.02 Q 4 Jukka Keskisalo 8:29.13 Q 5 Nikolay Chavkin 8:29.72 6 Youcef Abdi 8:29.81 7 Jacob Araptany 8:35.85 8 Vincent Zouaoui-Dandrieux 8:36.96 9 Kyle Alcorn 8:37.11 10 Artem Kosinov 8:42.27 11 Mario Bazan 8:51.95 12 Abdelaziz Merzougui 8:58.20 - Birhan Getahun DNF

Heat 3

Rank Athlete Nationality Time Notes 1 Roba Gari 8:20.68 Q 2 Ezekiel Kemboi 8:20.97 Q 3 Hamid Ezzine 8:21.25 Q 4 Donald Cabral 8:21.46 Q 5 Ion Luchianov 8:22.09 q, SB 6 Mohamed Khaled Belabbas 8:22.32 SB 7 Alex Genest 8:22.62 SB 8 Vadym Slobodenyuk 8:23.35 9 Łukasz Parszczyński 8:30.08 10 Weynay Ghebresilasie 8:37.57 11 Albert Minczér 8:40.74 SB 12 Stuart Stokes 8:43.04 - Víctor Garcia DNF

Final

Rank Athlete Nationality Time Notes Ezekiel Kemboi 8:18.56 Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad 8:19.08 Abel Mutai 8:19.73 4 Roba Gari 8:20.00 5 Brimin Kipruto 8:23.03 6 Evan Jager 8:23.87 7 Hamid Ezzine 8:24.90 8 Donald Cabral 8:25.91 9 Tarik Langat Akdag 8:27.64 10 Ion Luchianov 8:28.15 11 Brahim Taleb 8:32.40 12 Nahom Mesfin Tariku 8:35.12 13 Yuri Floriani 8:40.07 Jukka Keskisalo DNF Benjamin Kiplagat DQ R 163.3b*

* Infringement of the inside border.

References