Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia gets us underway on our list at number five. The 26 year-old set 12 minutes, 46.81 seconds in July 2012 at the Paris Diamond League to become the fifth-fastest man in the distance ever.

Kenyan veteran Eliud Kipchoge comes in at number four. His time of 12 minutes, 46.53 seconds came at the 2004 Golden Gala in Rome. He has since been running road events since 2012, but he stays the fourth-fastest man in the 5,000m.

Fellow Kenyan Daniel Komen is third. Komen broke records in the 3,000m and is well known for his rivalry with Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie, but also was also a 5,000m world heavyweight in his own right. He posted 12 minutes, 39.74 seconds in Brussels on August 1997.

And Gebrselassie himself comes in at second on our list. A year after Komen set his personal best, the great Ethiopian shot back with a time of 12 minutes, 39.36 to become the then-fastest man in the distance in Helsinki. And that mark stood for six years....

...and that's because the man who tops our list came along and shaved a whole 2.01 seconds to become the fastest man ever in the 5,000 meters. Kenenisa Bekele, also of Ethiopia, posted an incredible 12 minutes, 37.35 seconds in Hengelo, the Netherlands to become the outright fastest in the event and top our list, this week.

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