Yomi Omogbeja
The Kenyan women’s 4x1500m quartet of Mercy Cherono, Faith Kipyegon, Irene Jelagat and Hellen Obiri smashed the 4x1500m World Record at the inaugural IAAF World Relays in Nassau, The Bahamas on Saturday.
The team, anchored by world 1500m bronze medalist Hellen Obiri, crushed the previous world best of 17:05.72 set by the Kenyan quartet minus Obiri in Nairobi in April to win the gold medal in 16:33.58, 32 seconds off the previous record.
The United States claimed the silver medal in 16:55.33, also better than the previous world record with Australia settling for the bronze medal with an area record of 17:08.65.
The Kenyans not only took the IAAF World Relays first prize of US$50,000 but also received a world record bonus prize of US$50,000.
Mercy Cherono opened with a leg of 4:07.4, leading at the handover; World Junior 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon followed suit with 4:08.5; Irene Jelagat ran a leg of 4:10.8 with Obiri bringing Kenya home with 4:06.9.
Kenya’s women’s 4x1500m quartet (Mercy Cherono, Faith Kipyegon, Irene Jelagat and Hellen Obiri)/ Photos credit: Derek Smith
What they said:
Mercy Cherono: We are excited to have broken the world record for the second time this year. I am so happy and proud of my team and the time we ran today. It was important to win for our country.
Irene Jelagat: I am excited with the result and the spirit of our team. The atmosphere was great. Mercy and Faith ran very well and I just ran to stay in the lead.
Hellen Obiri: We have a strong team and we delivered today. We felt the music throughout the race and we felt the support of the crowd. I will continue to prepare for the Commonwealth Games and the Diamond League.
Race Results:
- Kenya (16:33.58) WR
- USA (16:55.33) AR
- Australia (17:08.65) AR
- Romania (17:51.48) NR
4×1500-metres-relay-Official Results
