Kenya’s Edward Cheserek defended his title at the 36th edition of the Carlsbad 5000 which is the ‘World’s Fastest 5k’ held on Sunday (22) in Carlsbad, California.

The 28-year-old averaged a pace of 4:25 per mile to barely hold off Reid Buchanan, when he cut the tape in 13:44 with the latter coming in second place a second later with Jack Bruce from Australia closing the podium three finishes in 14:04.

Three years ago, the 17-time NCAA champion tied the then official world record in the road 5K at Carlsbad in 13:29. (The record has been lowered to 12:49.) He won easily that day by 25 seconds.

Cheserek made a surge and pulled ahead. “I’ve raced him a lot since college,” said Buchanan, the 2019 Pam American Games silver medalist in the 10,000. “I know he likes to check over his shoulder and if he thinks he has it, he starts to coast. “I was going to try to time it right after he looked to give it another sprint. But he had another gear I couldn’t match. He’s no slouch. I think everyone knows that. I wanted to make him work for it.”

Cheserek said he was moved by the thousands of spectators lining the course. “There were a lot of people shouting out,” he said. “We get more energy from that.” Cheserek did say he held back a bit, wanting to conserve fuel for next Friday’s track 5,000 at The Prefontaine Classic. “I got the win,” he said. “That’s most important.”