NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 16 – Defending champion Conseslus Kipruto led the duo of training partner Abraham Kibiwott and Leonard Bett into Monday’s 3,000m steeplechase final at the World Athletics Championships as Kenya missed out on a walking race medal on the opening day in Eugene.
Kipruto finished a comfortable second in Heat Two while Bett and Kibiwott finished second and third in Heat One, with Olympic bronze medalist Benjamin Kigen missing out after finishing seventh in Heat Three.
Meanwhile, Kenya missed out on walking race medals with Samwel Gathimba finishing juts outside of the top three in the men’s 20km after coming home fourth while African champion Emily Ngii finished a distant 30th in the women’s race.
Gathimba timed 1:19:25, just seven seconds shy of a bronze medal place, beaten to it by Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom. The Japanese duo of Toshikazu Yamanishi and Koki Ikeda finished first and second respectively.
Kibiwott and Bett were first out on the track in Heat One, lining up alongside reigning Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco.
The pack remained a huge ball of competitors until three laps to go when the field began to disintegrate into a single file, Kibiwott and Bett starting to show intent.
At the bell, Ethiopian Getnet Wale and El Bakkali pulled away with the Kenyan duo strongly on their shadows. At the home straight, the two started to gather pace and at the final water hurdle, they came through the outside of Wale to secure the two automatic qualification slots with El Bakkali winning.
Bett timed 8:16:94 to come second while Kibiwott clocked 8”17.04. This was the quickest heat with the Olympic champion winning in 8:16.65.
Meanwhile, Kipruto showed his prowess with a second place finish, also sneaking in to an automatic qualification slot after running on the outside after the final water hurdle, edging out Kenyan turned American Hillary Bor.
Kipruto and Bor seemed to be working on a game plan all race long.
Ethiopian Lamecha Girma, who Conseslus beat to the title in Doha in 2019 by a hundredth of a second sat at the top of the field with two laps to go.
At the bell, France’s Mehdi Belhaj came in to try spoil the party and Conseslus let him enjoy himself at third until the final barrier.
The Kenyan sneaked in the outside from fourth, gliding past the Frenchman and Bor with a wide smile on his face, securing an automatic ticket to the final.
Kigen, who also struggled during the trials and finished outside the top five but handed a chance by the selectors, struggled after slipping in the final water hurdle to finish seventh.
With the CVs on the starting line, Kigen was a huge favourite to win the Heat. It looked like he would settle for the top three heading into the final water hurdle but he slipped to cut down his pace as he breathed at second.
He had come all the way from sixth at the bell to second, but after the slip failed to recover in time with Hailemariyam Amare of Ethiopia winning in 8:18.34 as homeboy and Tokyo silver medalist Evan Jager came second in 8:18.44. India’s Avinash Sable sneaked in the final automatic qualification at third.
