Kenya opens medal account with silver at IAAF U18

Kenya’s Emmaculate Chepkirui celebrationg after winning siver at the IAAF World U18 Championships at Kasarani.PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 12 – Cheered by home fans, Team Kenya opened her IAAF World U18 Championships medal account with silver thanks to Emmaculate Chepkirui in the Girls 3000m on the opening day at the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani on Wednesday night.

Running under rainy conditions, the rivalry between Kenya and Ethiopia was witnessed in the last event of the day that saw Abersh Minsewo out kick Chepkirui 50m to the finish line, to take gold in 9:24.62.

Chepkirui, who did all her best to give Kenya a golden start settled for silver in 9:24.69 ahead of another Ethiopian Yitayish Mekonene who settled for bronze in 9:28.46. The only other Kenyan in the race Beatrice Chebet was fourth in 9:33.26.

“I feel very good for winning this silver medal and I am very happy though I wanted to break Mercy Cherono’s record but wasn’t possible. The rain did not affect me though the fault start was not good. I ran from behind in the opening three races because I wanted to save the finishing kick since I knew Ethiopians are good at that,” Chepkirui, who will now be shifting her attention to World Junior Championships, said.

The race watched at the VIP dias by President Uhuru Kenyatta, First Lady and IAAF President Lord Sebastian Coe, had tensions even before it started and it was evidently seen by the three fault starts, something that is very rare.

Being the first international event for all the runners, it was a game of sizing each other with Ethiopian Mekonene controlling the slow pace as Chebet, who has a Personal Best of 9:07.0 reading the race from the middle.

The second lap saw Chebet up her game though it seemed early to run side-by-side alongside Mekonene, Ugandan Sarah Chelangat was third to pile the pressure while Chepkirui was just behind her.

The race shaped up in the fifth lap though it was still tight with the usual culprits in the leading pack that included two Kenyans, two Ethiopians and one Ugandan.

Ugandan Chelangat could not keep up the pace as she dropped towards the bell to leave the showdown to the perennial rivals Kenya and Uganda. It is at this moment that Chepkirui broke up but Abersh could not let her go.

The turning point was at the back straight when both athletes ran neck-to-neck but seeing the home straight the Ethiopian had the finishing kick to take the race and give her country the first gold medal in the five-day Championships that ends on Sunday.

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