Eloise Wellings questions Almaz Ayana’s performance in 5000m

AUSTRALIAN distance runner Eloise Wellings has questioned Ethiopian world record holder Almaz Ayana after the 5000m heats, saying she heard something strange.

ELOISE Wellings couldn’t believe it.

Part of the tactics of distance running is listening. A good gauge of how an opponent is travelling is by their breathing.

Midway through the 5000m heat Wellings was alongside Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana briefly before she took off and put a 100m gap on the field – the margin which she comfortably held to the finish line.

“You’re obviously listening to what people are doing around you, trying to feel if they are labouring or not,” Wellings explained.

Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana has been carving up her competition on the track.

“(With Ayana) it was running next to someone who is hardly breathing and then she just went off.”

Controversy has followed Ayana since she broke the world record in the 10,000m on the opening morning of the track and field program. That record had stood for 23 years and belonged to China’s Wang Junxi who was part of the country’s infamous drugs regime.

Ayana broke it by 14 seconds.

Wellings finished 10th in the 10,000m final and then got a second look at Ayana in the 5000m heats where she finished sixth to qualify for the final.

“No-one has ever seen anything like it,” Wellings said. “I don’t know if it is for real, I don’t know if she’s been getting some extra help.

Rio Day 10: Aussies at the 2016 Olympics

VIEW GALLERY

“It’s really hard at the moment, there is a lot of talk about doping, I mean the Ethiopian coach being caught with a whole lot of EPO in his hotel room and Ethiopian athletes in the same hotel.

“I can’t say for sure so I’m not going to say anything, we just have to focus on what we are doing.

“I look at her and I think what a beautiful runner, she has a stunning technique, a stunning style and hopefully we can close the gap.”

Wellings will lead a trio of Australians into Saturday morning’s 5000m final with steeplechasers Genevieve LaCaze and Madeline Heiner-Hills both qualifying for their second final of the Games.

Australia's Eloise Wellings and Genevieve LaCaze both got through to the women's 5000m final. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“It’s so exciting for distance running in Australia,” she said. “Genevieve and I are rooming together and the last thing we said before we went to sleep last night was that we don’t want it to be our last race here because we’re having so much fun.

“We’re just enjoying ourselves and excited that all our hard work is paying off.”

LaCaze and Heiner-Hills both had to back up less than 24 hours after they finished inside the top 10 in the 3000m steeplechase.

“I was still running on adrenaline from yesterday,” LaCaze said. “I saw Madeline do the job before me (in the first heat) and she has run faster than me in the last two days so it definitely motivated to be right there and give it everything.”

####

Originally published as Eloise Wellings questions Almaz Ayana’s performance in 5000m