Amos Kirui kept Kenya’s perfect U20 World Championships streak in the 3000m Steeplechase alive for the 15th consecutive edition with victory in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Amos Kirui and his teammate Vincent Kipyegon Ruto, the reigning world U18 champion, controlled the pace for most of the race, taking turns with the lead for the first two kilometres. But, with three laps remaining, Kirui pulled away unchallenged to win in 8:20.43.
Eritrean Yemane Haileselassie clocked 8:22.67 for silver and Ethiopian Getnet Wale ran a personal best time of 8:22.83 to take the bronze medal, a scant 0.01 ahead of Ruto.
“It was a stunning victory,” said Kirui, whose previous best was 8:37.4. “I wanted to fight for the championships record. Now I want to focus on fighting for a place in the Diamond League.”
Ethiopia claimed gold and silver for the second championships in a row in the women’s 1500m with Adanech Anbesa and Fantu Worku clocking 4:08.07 and 4:08.43 respectively.
USA’s Christina Aragon overhauled Kenya’s Winifred Mbithe and her teammate Alexa Efraimson to claim bronze in 4:09.25 with Mbithe (4:09.25) and Efraimson (4:10.23) filling out the top five positions.
Anbesa’s victory completes the Ethiopian whitewash in the middle and long distances on the women’s programme with Beyenu Degefa and Kalkidan Fentie winning the 3000m and 5000m respectively.
Day 6 Results – IAAF World U20 Championships Bydgoszcz 2016 – 24-07-2016
(Additional info: IAAF)
