Alice Aprot bags Kenya’s 4th gold at African Games in Congo

Kenya bagged gold in the women’s 10,000m final at the African games in Brazzaville Congo with Alice Aprot delivering a heroic finish in what seemed to be one of the toughest races of the afternoon.

Aprot led fellow Kenyan Alice Kiptagelai to clinch the top two places as Kenya added 3 more medals to their haul.

Kenya’s first medal on day 4 of the athletics program was clinched in the men’s 800m final through Job Kinyor.

Kinyor, together with compatriots Jackson Kivuva and Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Kitum were targeting to upstage Nijel Amos, the Botswana athlete who has been a thorn in Kenya’s flesh in the 2-lap race but their dreams were not to be.

Everything was going according to script with the Kenyans on the brink of a gold medal when Kitum surged ahead with 150m to go.

Amos, who had an unexpected early exit in the same race in Beijing, China, timed his race to perfection as he sped off to victory. Job Kinyor bagged bronze for Kenya finishing third, a repeat performance of 2011 in Maputo.

“After 1 min 20 seconds I tried to block the guys behind me so that I could be able to let my fellow Kenyans pass but they didn’t come through, I don’t know what happened,” Kinyor said after the race.

“After 250m when I saw no one was going to challenge me I knew I had won. It feels good after Beijing,” Amos, the 2015 African Champion said.

The Kenyan athletes in women’s 10,000m were also under pressure to deliver in what has not been a colourful outing. Rwanda’s Celestine Mukandanga dominated the first four laps as the chasing pack comprising of 3 Kenyans and 3 Ethiopians tracked her. Mukandanga’s strategy capitulated as she slowly faded to obscurity as the chasing pack passed her midway through the 25 laps race.

Alice Aprot who won a bronze medal earlier this week in the women’s 5000m race opted to take the reins. The Ethiopians sensed a loss and tried to disrupt Kenya’s plans but Aprot was unfazed as she remained firmly in the lead.

In the final 2 laps, the Kenyan showed her mettle as she took off creating a 50m gap and pushing on to finish first in a time of 31 minutes 24.18 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of compatriot Gladys Kiptagelai who finished second. Ethiopia’s gelete burka settled for the bronze.

“I knew the Ethiopians have a last kick so I decided to do mine early with 2 laps to go, my strategy worked,” the new African champion said.

The athletics program concludes on Thursday evening at the Complex Sportif in Kintele, Brazzaville.