(14/05/2005)

World Junior 8km Cross-Country champion, Augustine Kiprono Choge has set a new world junior 3000 metres mark.

The Kenyan youth star was placed second in 7 minutes, 28.78 seconds at the Qatar IAAF Super Grand Prix II meeting in Doha.

The race was won by his compatriot and 2003 World 5000m champion Eliud Kipchoge in 7 minutes, 28.56 seconds - a new meet record.

Choge, 18, who also holds the World Junior 5,000 metres track title, finished well ahead of Benjamin Limo who was third in 7 minutes, 29.60 seconds.

All three Kenyan runners were well under Kipchoge's old meet record of 7 minutes, 33.37 seconds.

Homeboy Saif Saeed Shaheen, formerly known as the Kenyan Stephen Cherono before switching allegiances, lost out by 11 seconds on a new mark in the 2,000-metre steeplechase finishing in 5 minutes, 14.53 seconds.

The target 15-year-old record of 5 minutes, 14.42 seconds was set by Kenya's Julius Kiriuki in Riveto, Italy, in 1990.