Houlihan runs 14:23.92 and Ahmed 12:47.20 in Portland

Shelby Houlihan and Moh Ahmed both smashed the North American 5000m records in Portland on Friday night.

The USA’s Houlihan clocked 14:23.92 to improve her own mark ahead of Karissa Schweizer with 14:26.34, which is also inside the previous record, while Canada’s Ahmed ran 12:47.20 ahead of Lopez Lomong with 12:58.78.

Houlihan wins and sets a PENDING AMERICAN RECORD in 14:23:92!! @KarissaSchweiz4 also dips under the previous record to finish second! pic.twitter.com/C1vKooyHJj

— USATF (@usatf) July 11, 2020

Olympic finalist Houlihan and Schweizer, who were paced by their Bowerman Track Club team-mates Colleen Quigley, Courtney Frerichs and Elise Cranny, now sit 12th and 14th respectively on the world all-time list.

Frerichs finished third in 15:32.81 and Cranny fourth in 15:32.84.

Houlihan (pictured top, winning the 1500m at the 2018 Prefontaine Classic), had set the previous North American 5000m record of 14:34.45 in 2018.

In the men’s race, world bronze medallist Ahmed moved to 10th on the world all-time list as he improved on the 12:53.60 North American record which had been set by the USA’s Bernard Lagat in 2011.

The mark took more than 10 seconds off Ahmed’s own Canadian 5000m record, which he ran when breaking 13:00 for the first time last year, when he clocked 12:58.16 in Rome.

They had been paced by athletes including Evan Jager, Ryan Hill and Grant Fisher, with Fisher leading through 3000m in 7:46.10.

Britain’s Marc Scott was also in action and his plan had been to race 3km and see what he had left.

He went through 3000m in 7:47.87 and carried on to jog through the finish in 14:13.93.

“Firstly, hats off to @moh_speed23 and @lopez_lomong9! That one was for you boys. 12:47 & 12:58,” Scott wrote on Instagram.

“‘Race 3k and see what you have left’ – not much was the answer. Coming through in 7:47 (few seconds off the PB). Jogged it home to have an official race for the guys. What a squad this is.”

Full results can be found here.