Her moves were impressive and her energy kept Ethiopians Tsehey Gemechu and Fantu Wokhu at bay all the way into the 11th lap of the race. But her stamina and determination in the last lap saw her record an impressive 58 seconds leap to win not just the title but a historic moment.
With this spectacular performance, the 29-year old distance athlete matched Olympic champion Vivian Cheruiyot, who until Obiri’s win, had been the only Kenyan to have won the 5000m gold back-to-back. Cheruyiot had won the gold in 2009 and 2011. CLASS!
Her compatriots Margaret Chelimo and Lilian Kasait would later stage some pressure behind the Ethiopians-seeing Chelimo finish second and Kasait finish fifth.
She lost it to Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, but it was almost clear that she had an agenda in the 5000m gong going by her show at the heats where she posted the fastest qualifying time of 14:52.13 on Wednesday, and the performance has vindicated her from the 10,000m loss.
In March this year, Obiri became the first woman to win outdoors, indoors and cross country world individual titles at the senior level to emulate Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia during the World country championships in Aarhus.
She also finished fourth at the IAAF Diamond League final in Brussels last month.