Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune of Ethiopia out-sprinted Merhawi Mebrahtu of Eritrea to claim the men’s 5000m title 14:03.05 to 14:03.33 at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali22 on Monday.
Eritrea’s Habtom Samuel finished in third place to take the bronze medal in 4:03.67 while Gebeyehu Belay of Ethiopia just misses out in fourth with 14:04.55.
Rogers Kibet of Uganda was fifth in 14:07.71 while Samuel Kibathi of Kenya, who fell in the last few metres of the race, clocked 14:07.82 in sixth place.
Addisu Yihune avenged his fourth-place finish at last year’s world U20 5000m final in Nairobi, Kenya.
“I spent all that time preparing for this. I was 100% sure I would win,” said Yihune after the race. “The time doesn’t matter. I was here to win.”
