American Runs Sub-27 for 10,000 Meters

Sobinski is Tallest and Heaviest Man to Break 27 Minutes Only 31 men have broken 27 minutes for the 10,000 meters.  Thirty members of this exclusive club are African born:  20 are Kenyan (including a few who, having emigrated, now run for Qatar), 6 are Ethiopian, 2 are Moroccan (one of whom runs for Belgium), and one each for Uganda and Eriteria.  American Chris Solinsky became the first non-African-born addition to the list on May 1st when he ran 26:59.60 in his 10k debut at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational.  He did it by running a classic slight negative split:  13:34 for the first 5k; 13:24 for the second 5k, taking the lead with about 900 meters to go and hammering the last lap in 57 seconds.  Solinski, at 6’1” and 160 pounds, is the first man over 6 feet and over 141 pounds to break 27 minutes.  And, with a 13:12 5k PR, he is the second slowest 5k runner to ever do it.