Ethiopians dominate 3000m final at WU20 as Kenya misses out

It was an evening of bountiful harvest for Ethiopia who bagged a gold and silver as Kenya missed on the podium in the men’s 3000m at the World Under-20 Championships.

Tadese Worku clinched gold in a championship record of 7:42.09 as compatriot Ali Abdilmana took silver in 7:44.55 while Habtom Samuel of Eritrea rounded the podium in 7:52.69 to bag bronze.

Kenya’s Daniel Kinyanjui (8:09.40) finished seventh as Bernard Yegon placed ninth in 8:12.96

Being held for the first time at the World Junior Championships, the men’s 3000m promised to rekindle the rivalry between Kenyans and Ethiopians, two countries that have dominated distance races since time immemorial.

While the Ethiopians went for an early lead the Kenyans trailed closely and with four laps to go, the duo accelerated quickly stretching the gap between them and Yegon who had moved to third place.

With the Ethiopians stepping on the gas it was now the battle for who will take the bronze medal as Eritreans closed in on Kenyans to take third and fourth positions.

In the men’s javelin, Kenya’s Wilson Ldimaiye managed a throw of 66.71m to narrowly miss out on the finals after ranking 13th just one spot outside the first 12 who earn automatic qualifications in the finals.

Earlier on the day, Sylvia Chelangat and Daniel Kimeu made it to the finals in the women’s and men’s 400m respectively.

The duo made amends on their earlier mistakes that saw Kenya’s 4x400m mixed relay team disqualified due to lane infringement.

Chelangat placed second in the third heat after clocking a new personal best of 53.49 behind Imaobong Uko of Nigeria who secured victory in 52.33

On his part, Kimeu clocked a season best of 47.05 to finish second in the third heat behind South Africa’s Lythe Pillay who timed 46.55