NAIROBI, Kenya, March 18 – Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech finished fourth in the women’s 5000m as Ethiopia claimed a clean sweep of the podium places at the African Games in Accra on Monday night.
The World 3000m steeplechase silver medalist clocked 15:13.71, in a race won by Ethiopia’s Eisa Medina (15:04.32), ahead of her compatriots, Molla Birtukan (15:05.32) and Wudu Melknat (15:07.04) in second and third respectively.
Chepkoech began the race strongly, leading the pack as the Ethiopian trio chose to bid their time in the middle.
With five laps to go, however, they made their move with Birtukan overtaking Chepkoech for the first time in the race.
Her compatriots followed suit and the Kenyan was soon playing catch-up with them in an effort to regain the lead.
However, it was not to be as the Ethiopians surged ahead at the sound of the bell for the last lap as the world record holder for the women’s 3000m steeplechase struggled to compensate for the increasing gap.
