Olympic Track and Field 2016: Women's 5,000M Medal Winners, Times and Results

Ethiopia has historically dominated the grueling women's 5,000-meter run at the Olympics, but Friday turned out to be Kenya's day to shine. 

Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot, who won silver in 2012, broke through and put forth a phenomenal effort to finish in an Olympic-record 14 minutes, 26.17 seconds to secure gold. 

According to Spikes, Cheruiyot became the first Kenyan woman in Olympic history to win the 5,000 meters. 

As if that weren't good enough, Kenya also captured the silver medal on Friday night when Hellen Obiri logged a personal-best time of 14:29.77 . Her performance gave Kenya its first 5,000 meters with two medalists. 

However, Ethiopia did not miss out on the medal stand entirely as Almaz Ayana finished in 14:33.59 to win bronze. 

Here's a look at the final standings and official results from Friday night's final: 

Medal	Athlete	Country	Time
Gold	Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot	Kenya	14:26.17
Silver	Hellen Obiri	Kenya	14:29.77
Bronze	Almaz Ayana	Ethiopia	14:33.59
4	Mercy Cherono	Kenya	14:42.89
5	Senbere Teferi	Ethiopia	14:43.75
6	Yasemin Can	Turkey	14:56.96
7	Karoline Grovdal	Norway	14:57.53
8	Susan Kuijken	Netherlands	15:00.69
9	Eloise Wellings	Australia	15:01.59
10	Madeline Heiner	Australia	15:04.05
11	Shelby Houlihan	United States	15:08.89
12	Genevieve Lacaze	Australia	15:10.35
13	Eilish McColgan	Great Britain	15:12.09
14	Ababel Yeshaneh	Ethiopia	15:28.26
15	Miyuki Uehara	Japan	15:34.97
16	Jennifer Wenth	Austria	15:56.11
17	Nikki Hamblin	New Zealand	16:14.24
18	Abbey D'Agostino	United States	Did Not Start

And here's a rundown of the updated medal count, which continues to feature the United States in the No. 1 spot: 

The United States had two entrants in the final, but Abbey D'Agostino was unable to make her scheduled start after suffering a torn ACL, meniscus tear and strained MCL in heats, according to USA Today's Martin Rogers.  

With the Dartmouth star out, it was up to Shelby Houlihan to carry the Red, White and Blue's hopes on her shoulders. 

However, the 23-year-old couldn't muster an epic run, and she finished 11th with a time of 15:8.89. 

Elsewhere, a pair of personal bests from Norway's Karoline Grovdal and the Netherlands' Susan Kuijken gave the seventh- and eighth-place finishers something to be proud of despite missing out on medals. 

Looking ahead, the Kenyan duo of Cheruiyot and Obiri will now assume the role of favorites moving forward.

And while Ethiopian distance runners will certainly target their perches atop the 5,000-meter throne for years to come, the Kenyans have a chance to kick start an era of dominance if they can channel Friday's performance in future efforts. 

Post-Race Reaction

"My fourth Olympics and I hadn't had gold," Cheruiyot said, per the Olympic News Service. "Today I said 'I am not going to lose.'"

"Almaz is such a great athlete, we thought she would win again," Cheruiyot added, according to the Olympic News Service.