Ethiopia’s Abdisa Fayisa clinched the men’s 1500m title at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 on Saturday, marking Ethiopia‘s first win in this event.
In a strategic race, Fayisa outpaced Australia’s Cameron Myers in the home stretch, securing gold with a time of 3:40.51 and complementing his silver in the men’s 5000m. Myers finished second in 3:40.60, while Spain’s Alex Pintado earned bronze with 3:41.03.
Ethiopia’s Saron Berhe, the 17-year-old African champion who recently broke the four-minute barrier, fulfilled her favourite status in the women’s 1500m by winning her first global title in 4:16.64.
In a tactical race, Berhe positioned herself within the pack, led by USA’s Dylan McElhinney, with two laps remaining. As the bell approached, Berhe advanced to the front, accompanied by McElhinney and Canada’s Rachel Forsyth.
The rest of the field couldn’t keep up with Berhe’s surge, allowing her to secure victory by over a second, and claiming Ethiopia’s sixth women’s 1500m title in eight editions of the event.
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase, the world was introduced to two teenagers who could well ascend to greatness at senior level, Edmund Serem and Matthew Kosgei.
They maintained Kenya’s proud tradition in the event by leading the field home, the 17th time in 20 editions that the gold has been won by a Kenyan.
Serem powered clear of the field on the back straight to win, setting a world U20 leading time of 8:15.28, with Kosgei second in 8:17.46 and Ethiopia’s Hailu Ayalew third in 8:24.08 – the first eight athletes setting lifetime bests.
“Today I am very excited. I want to thank God. I was well prepared. We have been training well in our camp so I knew that I was in good shape,” said Serem, the Kenyan team captain. “But I was not sure if I was going to win, But I knew my body was in good shape.”
“Yeah. The new World U20 lead means a lot to me, so, today I am very, very happy, very excited. And so, I know my father and mother back at home are very, very happy. They told me that you can, Edmund, you can. So I am very happy.”
South African quartet of Bryan Katoo, Sihle Mahlangu, Njabulo Mbatha and Udeme Okon claimed the silver medal with 3:05.22 in the men’s 4x400m relay final. The USA won gold in 3:03.56 while Australia took bronze with 3:05.53.
South Africa’s Hannah van Niekerk, who clocked a PB of 56.98, was upgraded to bronze after the second-placer Jasmine Robinson of USA was disqualified in the women’s 400m hurdles final.
Meet The Authors
Yomog Meje is a former Nigerian junior athlete and the Associate editor at Athletics Africa.
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