Kwemoi wins 10K bronze, Semenya too good for Nyairera

World Under-20 champion Rodgers Kwemoi won Kenya’s sixth bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games as he clocked 27:28.66 to finish third in the men’s 10,000m final at the Carrara Stadium in Gold Coast.

Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei delivered a record-breaking performance en route to winning his second gold in Australia, extending Kenya’s title drought over the distance at the quadrennial showpiece.

Chepetegei’s 27:19.62 run set a new Games record with Canadian Mohammed Ahmed coming second in 27:20.56 after pushing the World silver medalist all the way to the finish line.

The result represented an identical 1-2 finish with the 5,000m final where Cheptegei had led Ahmed to second with another Kenyan Edward Zakayo completing the top podium places.

The race started off at a relatively fast pace with Kenya’s Jonathan Ndiku taking the lead while his compatriots Kwemoi and Josphat Kipkoech sat comfortably in the middle of the pack.

Ndiku and Kwemoi took charge of the first five laps before Kipkoech joined the duo at the front.

With 19 laps left to go the race shaped up to be an East African affair as Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda joined Cheptegei to battle the Kenyans for the lead.

Pack of eight

Kiplimo then took charge to control the pace as Kwemoi and another Ugandan Timothy Toroitich chased after him. Meanwhile Ndiku and Kipkoech began drifting off the medal bracket.

A pack of eight athletes broke off from the rest with 14 laps remaining as Kwemoi assumed the lead.

Ndiku kept close tabs with the three Ugandans at the back perhaps reserving some gas for the kick in a steady pace.

Kwemoi, a Japan-based athlete kept a comfortable pace before Kiplimo charged forward again with a turn of pace.

With six laps to go, three Ugandans were still well tucked among leading seven that included Kwemoi but Ndiku had drifted a couple yards behind in eighth.

The race turned aggressive in the penultimate lap as Ahmed injected more pace in an attempt to gain a strong lead over second-placed Cheptegei. The Ugandan kept him at his shoulder before wheeling away at the home straight.

In the women’s 800m final, double Olympic and two-time World champion Caster Semenya captured gold for South Africa with a totally dominant performance, setting a Commonwealth Games record with her winning time of 1min 56.68sec.

Kenya’s Olympic bronze and World silver medalist Margaret Wambui finished second in 1:58.07 as Jamaica’s Natoya Goule came third in 1:58.82.