Morocco swept the distance events, claiming both gold and silver medals in the boys and girls 3000m, on the opening day of Athletics competition at the 17th edition of the Gymnasiade taking place in Marrakech on Friday 4 May, 2018.
Meryem Azrour led a Moroccan 1-2 to the podium, winning the girls 3000m final in 9:43.17 ahead of her compatriot Lamiae Himi, who took the silver in 9:43.31. Vasileia Spyrou of Greece was third in 9:45.51.
It was a Moroccan affair again in the Boys’ race to the delight of the home supporters as 17-year-old Hamza Chahid won the gold medal in 8:35.69 ahead of his teammate Zakariyaa Hmirouch, who claimed the silver in 8:37.56.
Turkey’s Tarik Demir settled for the bronze medal in a time of 8:38.28, with Hamza Amraoui of Algeria fourth in 8:39.64.
Metehan Acar of Turkey took the took the Boys Javelin gold with a throw of 69.56 metres.
Guilherme Moreira Soares of Brazil took silver with best of 69.08m while Maksim Manchak of Belarus took the bronze medal with 63.80m.
China’s Xinhui Li won the girls Shot Put gold with a best of 18.33 metres ahead of Yelizaveta Dorts of Belarus (16.64m) and Pinar Akyol of Turkey (15.63m).
The Gymnasiade, also known as the World Schools Summer Games, now comprise of 18 sports with the addition of six new sports (Boxing, Cycling, Golf, Petangue, Surfing and Taekwondo) and was organised for the first time in 1974, in Germany.
More than 3000 youth athletes from 58 countries are taking part in the first ever International Youth Multi-Sport event to be held in Africa, ongoing in Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco, from 2-9 May, 2018.
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- Athletes get set for the start of the Boys 100m preliminaries at the Gymnasiade 2018 in Marrakech / Photo Credit: Yomi Omogbeja
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- Meryem Azrour led a Moroccan 1-2 to Girls 3000m podium ahead of Lamiae Himi at Gymnasiade 2018 / Photo Credit: Yomi Omogbeja
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- Morocco’s Chahid Hamza won the Boys 3000m ahead of Hmirouch Zakariyaa at Gymnasiade 2018 / Photo Credit: Yomi Omogbeja
RESULTS
Gymnasiade 2018 – Day 1 Athletics Results
(AthleticsAfrica is a media partner of the ISF Sports Gymnasiade 2018 in Marrakech, Morocco)
Meet The Authors
Yomi is the founder of Africa's number one track and field website - AthleticsAfrica. A multi award-winning editor, journalism innovator, media trainer, sports and digital transformation consultant.
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