Conseslus soars as Cheruiyot stuns Kiplagat in Rabat

Conseslus Kipruto repeated over Jairus Birech in the men steeplechase as Timothy Cheruiyot stunned former Commonwealth champion, Silas Kiplagat in the men 1500m during the third IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rabat, Morocco on Sunday night.

Kipruto put together another impressive 3000m steeplechase performance to take control of the Diamond Race in his discipline, following his win in Doha at the meeting of the season, unleashing an impressive burst of acceleration over the final 200 metres to win in a world-leading time of 8:02.77.

“I was expecting to win this Diamond League race after Doha. I’m so happy because this gives me a morale boost for the next races to come. I started celebrating entering the straight and I didn’t sprint anymore because there are more races to come.

“I want to go faster and faster and reach my best level at the Kenyan Trials and in the Olympics,” the Moscow 2013 and Beijing 2015 silver medallist said.

It was also an African all-comers’ record and also the second fastest time from the former world youth and junior steeplechase champion who, perhaps curiously, has yet to break eight minutes; although it seems just a matter of time before he joins that elite club.

Kipruto and his compatriot, and 2015 Diamond Race winner, Jairus Birech were out on their own over the final two laps before Kipruto shrugged off his rival coming into the last bend.

Hs turn of speed was so decisive, and his confidence high enough, that he had the luxury of waving the 25,000-strong crowd as he came into the home straight. Birech, did not threaten from behind and finished second in 8:03.90.

“The race was good, this is my season’s best, which I didn’t expect due to the problems I had which didn’t affect my performance as I thought they would. My teammate and I managed to run faster than everyone,” the fourth finisher at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing offered.

In the corresponding women’s race that was not a Diamond League event, Ethiopia’s Etenesh Diro dominated and was in the lead from just before the halfway point in the race before finishing in 9:16.87, the second fastest time of her career and the third fastest time in the world this year.

Diro, fifth at the London 2012 Olympic Games, heard the bell four seconds clear of her nearest rival, Gladys Kipkemoi, but the Kenyan wilted badly over the last lap before finishing second in 9:26.36.

“I was not happy about my race because I feel with two laps to go. The past three years, I have not been performing to my best but I have been improving a lot recently. I’m not saying anything about the Kenyan team for the Olympics but I will try my best in the rest of the season,” Kipkemoi rued after her race.

In the men’s 1500m, Cheriuyot, 20, hit the bell in the lead and never relinquished pole position before winning in 3:33.61, taking more than a second off his previous best.

“I did not expect to win this race today. It was pretty fast; this is a good beginning for me. I went to the lead early and I knew Silas was on my shoulder so I had to keep going fast. The sprint was tough and I won it. This gives me confidence for the next races,” Cheruiyot gushed after his biggest career victory thus far.

The seventh-place finisher at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 was tracked all the way to the line by his experienced compatriot Kiplagat, who finished two places in front of his team mate in the Chinese capital last summer, but the latter just couldn’t get past his rival and finished 0.07 in arrears.

“The race was good, it was windy but we did not complain and we are looking for other things in the future. The organisation and race were good despite the windy weather,” beaten Kiplagat who was third in Doha stated.

Moscow world champion, Eunice Sum who took bronze last year in Beijing and the rest of the field had no answer to the South African Olympics silver medallist, Caster Semenya who uncorked a devastating 1:56.64 world-leading performance at the first ever Diamond League meeting in Africa.

Pacemaker Anastasiya Tkachuk, from Ukraine, took the field through the first 400m in 56.70 and then Burundi’s 2016 world indoor champion Francine Niyonsaba took the lead and tried to break away from the classy field.

Niyonsaba passed 600m in 1:27.92 but couldn’t shake off the lurking presence of Semenya, who overtook her 50 metres from home and then pulled away to finish just 0.05 outside of Niyonsaba’s Diamond League record set in 2012.

The Burundian hung on to finish second in 1:57.74 as France’s Renelle Lamote edged out Kenya’s Eunice Sum to finish third in a personal best of 1:58.84, with the 2013 world champion fourth in 1:59.32.

Sum’s successor in Beijing last summer, Marina Arzamasova from Belarus, had a hugely disappointing race and could only finish in eighth in 2:01.49.

There was no second Diamond League victory for Ferguson Rotich who did not even make the start of the men’s 800m after his shocking victory over Olympics champion and record holder, David Rudisha in Shanghai.

France’s Pierre-Ambroise Bosse surged a little earlier than Semenya in the men’s 800m and hit the front coming into the final bend, just as the pacemaker Edwin Meli – who had taken the field through the first 400m in 51.17 – stepped to one side, and the move seemed to catch his rivals by surprise.

However, the former European junior champion possesses a formidable turn of speed over the final 150 metres of his preferred distance and was able to hold off the fast-closing Taoufik Makhloufi with relative ease, stopping the clock in 1:44.51.

Algeria’s London 2012 Olympic Games 1500m champion finished second in 1:44.91 with Bosnia’s Amel Tuka, 2015’s fastest man over two laps of the track, third in 1:45.41; also finding out too late that he had been badly positioned when Bosse made his decisive move.

Botswana’s 2015 Diamond Race winner Nijel Amos never looked comfortable, perhaps still tired after arriving in Rabat late the previous night, and had to settle for seventh in 1:47.34.

The Diamond League now moves to Eugene, Oregon for the fourth stop.

Material from IAAF used to compile this report