Motunde Smith
Two silver medals by Burundi’s Antoine Gakeme and Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum, and a bronze medal by her compatriot Gudaf Tsegay highlight African performances on day 3 of the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 on Saturday.
Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum clocked 4:04.96 to claim the silver medal in the women’s 1500m final behind Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who won gold in 4:04.96 at the Oregon Convention Centre in Portland, Oregon.
Seyaum compatriot Gudaf Tsegay ran 4:05.71 to round out the podium with the bronze medal.
“I had a lot of confidence going into the race,” said Hassan after the race. “My training has been very good, and the last 100 was very quick.”
Antoine Gakeme of Burundi with the Americans pose with their men’s 800m medals on the podium at Portland 2016 / Photo credit: Getty Images for the IAAF.
American Boris Berian ran a season’s best time of 1:45.83 to win the men’s 800m gold, almost a second ahead of runner-up Antoine Gakeme of Burundi who also ran a season’s best 1:46.65 for silver.
USA’s Erik Sowinski clocked 1:47.22 to take the bronze medal.
The 2015 African Games champion, Tosin Oke of Nigeria, who set a season’s best of 16.73m, finished the men’s triple jump competition in 6th position
South African men set a national indoor record time of 3:08.45 in the 4x400m relay during the heats but failed to make it to the final on Sunday.
