NAIROBI, Kenya, March 18 – Ethiopia’s Samuel Firewu stormed to victory in the men’s 3000m steeplechase at the African Games as the Kenyan pair of Amos Serem and Simon Koech finished second and third respectively.
The 20-year-old managed to stave off the hot pursuit of the Kenyan duo in the last 400m to walk away with gold, clocking 8:24.30 in first place.
Serem, the Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, overtook his fellow countryman in the last 100m to claim silver, timing 8:25.77 as Koech finished third in 8:26.19.
Another Kenyan in the race, youngster Edmund Serem, came sixth in 8:31.21 — in what was his debut at the senior level.
Firewu’s win, in what has been Kenya’s staple race, marks another long wait for the country to regain its dominance in the water-and-hurdles race ever since Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali stormed to victory at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
It was the first time a non-Kenyan had clinched gold in the men’s 3000m steeplechase at the Olympics in over two decades.
Since then, Bakkali has gone on to win the world title in Oregon (2022) as well as last year in Budapest.
