NAIROBI, Kenya, August 5 – Kenya’s Amos Serem, Abraham Kibiwott and Simon Koech booked their places in the final of the men’s 3000m steeplechase at the Paris Olympics on Monday evening.
Serem finished sixth in Heat 1, clocking 8:18.41 and seemed set to miss out on a medal fight.
However, he was reinstated in the final after appealing on the basis that he had been shoved in the back in the lead-up to the final water jump.
Despite the setback, the 2021 World Under 20 champion fought gallantly to catch up with the leading pack but was only just beaten to fifth place by Tunisian Ahmed Jaziri.
Kibiwott cruised to the final via a third-place finish in Heat 2, where he clocked 8:12.02.
Moroccan Mohamed Tindouft took first place in a personal best of 8:10.62, ahead of second-placed Samuel Firewu of Ethiopia who timed 8:11.61.
Koech, the 2021 World Under 20 bronze medalist, finished third in the ultimate heat after clocking 8:24.95 in a photo finish in which he was beaten to second place by American Kenneth Rooks.
World record holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia took top honours in 8:23.89.
The final for the race is set for Wednesday with the trio looking to dethrone Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali, who became the first-ever to break Kenya’s longstanding dominance of the water-and-hurdles race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
