Faith Kipyegon leads four Kenyan women in 1500m to the semi-finals as Edmund Serem shows good form in Steeplechase.
Faith Kipyegon, Edmund Serem and Nelly Chepchirchir showed great hopes of Kenya harvesting more medals at the Tokyo 25 Championships in the coming days.
Edmund Serem is in good form
When the Championships started properly, after the opening ceremony, Kenya’s Edmund Serem showed class as he won the men’s first heat of the 3000m Steeple Chase event. The new rules do not allow time qualifiers, so the men’s first heat started out quite slowly.
Serem is not a frontrunner and usually waits till the very last stages of the race to unleash his full potential. So, with about 40m to go, he eased past Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale and Japan’s Ryuji Miura to win the race in 8:29.97. Wale and Ryuji were second and third in 8:30.14 and 8:30.43, respectively.
“I am happy and prepared for the final. The World under 20 title helps me a lot, and it”s motivating to come from the juniors and proceed well into the seniors. I need to talk to my coach to see the way forward,” Serem said after his race.
The second and third heats were slightly faster and perhaps more competitive, with some of the pre-championship favourites advancing to the finals by narrow margins and others failing to sail through.
The last two heats also had some more similarities, as the two runners who finished in second place in both races suffered falls before earning their places in the final.
New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish fell earlier on in the second heat and made his way to finish second in 8:27.23 in a race won by Salaheddine Ben Yazide of Morocco in 8:27.21. Ethiopia’s Samuel Firewu was third.
The final heat brought together two long-standing rivals in this event: Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma and Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali. Earlier in the race, Girma fell down, got up and closed the gap. He went on to finish second in 8:27.79 behind Bakkali’s 8:26.99. USA’s DAniel Michalski was third in 8:28.76.
Faith Kipyegon dominant in women 1500m heats
Deafening cheers emanated from the full stadium in the first heat of the women’s 1500m race as Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka took to the front mid-race. A huge pack then went past the ringing bell and Tanaka could not resist the strong finishing of some of the faster runners in the field led by Australia’s Jessica Hull, who won the race in 4:04.40 ahead of USA’s Sinclair Johnson and Italy’s Gala Sabbatini.
Someone would blame the competitive qualification times as the second heat was as well crowded up to almost the bell when Linden Hall began to make a move and it stretched a bit. With about 200m to go, Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir went to the front and continued the relentless pace. She won it in 4:07.01. Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland came second in 4:07.34 ahead of Portugal’s Salome Afonso in 4:07.44.
From the gun, another Japanese runner, Tomoka Kimura, took to the front in the third heat. But she would quickly fade as Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu took to the front and made it a faster race. She won it in 4:01.23. USA’s Nikki Hiltz finished second in 4:01.73, while Kenya’s Susan Ejore finished third in 4:01.99.
The final heat had Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon in it. As usual, she controlled the race from the start, going to the front and utilising the inside lane. Great Britain’s Laura Muir went parallel to her on the outside lane. As Kipyegon went on to win it 4:02.55, Muir faded rapidly from second to eighth place on the home stretch. Sarah Madele of France finished second in 4:02.66, with Ireland’s Sarah Healy completing the top three positions in 4:02.67.
It was a good day for Kenya as it started with the ratification of Faith Kipyegon’s World Record.
