Kenenisa celebrates winning the 5000m (Photo- IAAF)

Organizers of the Weltklasse 2009- IAAF Golden League meeting- in Zurich, Switzerland have arranged a world record pace for Ethiopian distance star Kenenisa Bekele in Friday's 5000m showdown at the Leitzgrund stadium in this Eastern city of Switzerland.

Speaking to www.ethioberlin2009.com on Wednesday, Kenenisa had confirmed that he would be "staying around world record pace for the first kilometers of the race and see if I can continue to push it".

But the meeting has confirmed that they have recruited two Kenyan pacemakers- Olympic finalsit Thomas Longosiwa and Mark Kiptoo- to take the field through the first 1000m in 2:32, the 2000m mark at 5:04, and the 3000m in 7:37. According to information from IAAF statistician Mark Butler, the pace at 3000m would be equivalent to Kenenisa's world split when he smashed the world 5000m record in Hengelo, Netherlands five years ago.

The latest weather forecast indicates that the Ethiopian should have the weather on his side with temperatures not expected to exceed 21 degrees celsius, although there is a 20% chance of rain.