Kenya bagged two more golds and a silver on the final day of the World under-20 Athletics Championship in Bydgoszcz, Poland yesterday.
The medals took Kenya’s tally to nine medals— five gold, two silver and two bronze with Kenya finishing second overall, behind the United States.
Amos Kirui clinched the boys’ 3,000 metre steeplechase gold by posting 8:20.43. Yemane Haileselassie of Eritrea came home second in 8:22.67 while Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale finished third timed at 8:22.83. Kenya’s Kipyegon Ruto was relegated to fourth in 8:22.84 despite looking set for silver behind Kirui at one point.
Kipyegon Bett led a Kenya 1-2 finish in the 800 metres, stunning Willy Tarbei to the silver. Bett posted 1:44.95 with Tarbei settling for silver in 1:45.50. Morocco’s Moustafa Smaili settled for the bronze in 1:46.02.
On Saturday, Emmaculate Chepkirui bagged silver in the girls’ 5,000m at the World Under-20 championship in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
The Kenyan clocked 15:31.13 as Ethiopia’s Kalkidan Fentie clocked 15:29.46 to win gold. Bontu Rebitu of Bahrain settled for the bronze in 15:31.93 with another Kenyan Catherine Mwanzia finishing seventh in 15:37.79.
Fentie became the eighth Ethiopian to win the 5,000m title, following in the footsteps of some redoubtable names including Meseret Defar and Genzebe Dibaba. However, the manner in which she ran was more reminiscent of world champion Almaz Ayana.
After reaching the 3000m checkpoint in 9:34.03, Fentie tore the field asunder with a 65.93 lap— faster than world record pace— with four laps remaining before producing another hard surge in the last 800m.
Kenya’s Wesley Ledama had to settle for bronze in the men’s 5,000m after posting 13:23 .10. Ethiopian Solomon Barega scooped the gold in 13:21.21 with Djibouti’s Djkamal Direh, winning the silver in 13:21.50. Moses Koech finished seventh in 13:35.10.
Barega played a waiting game during the opening stages, with Eritrea’s Aron Kifle, the silver medallist in the 10,000m here, taking early control for the first five laps and covering 2000m in 5:26.49.
Ladema then took command, upping the tempo enough to whittle the lead group down to seven runners with five laps to go. Two laps later, it was down to five— Ladema, Kifle, Barega, Direh and Koech. The field was reduced further with 500m remaining when Kifle, trying to make a move to the outside, tripped and tumbled to the track and out of contention. Ladema still led with just over half a lap to go when Barega made his move. But he wasn’t alone. As he passed the Kenyan, Direh tagged along, and shadowed him to the line, but couldn’t move by.
Courtesy of star.co.ke