NAIROBI, Kenya, September 14 – Olympics bronze medalist Faith Cherotich claimed her first-ever Diamond League glory with victory in the women’s 3000m steeplechase in Brussels on Saturday night.
The 20-year-old clocked 9:02.36 to cross the finish line ahead of Olympics champion, Kenyan-born Winfred Yavi of Bahrain (9:02.87) and Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai (9:07.60) in second and third respectively.
“I didn´t expect to win today, but I think that I ran a good race. It wasn´t easy, but I kept saying to myself that, if I´m still in the lead after the last water jump, I was going to win. Winning the Diamond League means a lot to me,” the youngster said.
Little Faith — as she is popularly known — has been a regular on the podium of Diamond League events in 2024, including Xiamen (2nd), Prefontaine (3rd) and Rome (3rd).
Before Brussels, the 2022 World Under 20 champion had not won on the Diamond League circuit.
Meanwhile, her senior namesake, Faith Kipyegon, continued her world-beater antics with victory in the women’s 1500m — effectively clinching her fifth Diamond League trophy.
The triple Olympics 1500m champion clocked a meet record of 3:54.75, ahead of Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji (3:55.25) and Australia’s Jessica Hull (3:56.99) in second and third.
It has been another unforgettable year for the world 1500m and 5000m champion who began the year with injury woes but recovered to reign supreme on the Diamond League circuit.
Her Paris Olympics heroics aside, Kipyegon smashed the women’s 1500m world record for the second time in a year, clocking 3:49.04 at the Paris Diamond League in early July.
She then clocked 3:52.89 to win the Rome leg of the circuit on August 30.
Beatrice goes ballistic
Another history maker in action on the night was Beatrice Chebet who clocked a meet record of 14:09.82 to win the women’s 5000m.
The Olympics 5000m and 10,000m champion finished ahead of the Ethiopian pair of Medina Eisa (14:21.89) and Fotyen Tesfaye (14:28.53) in second and third respectively.
Chebet was glad to have closed the season in the best way possible as she looks forward to a period of rest.
“I want just to say thank you for the good season. It has been an amazing year with the double gold medal in Paris and now the Diamond League trophy. I will celebrate it with my family,” the world record holder for the women’s 10,000m said.
She added: “It´s not easy to do even better the next years, but you have to train hard, to have faith in yourself and stay focused. Now I am going back to my country, celebrate with my family and take some holidays. After that I will focus on the next season.”
Putting the gloss on a dominant Kenyan performance was Olympics 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi who triumphed in the men’s one-lap race.
Wanyonyi clocked 1:42.70 as Algerian Djamel Sedjati came second in 1:42.86.
Olympics silver medalist Marco Arop of Canada timed 1:43.25 in third.
