My Sports Emmanuel Wanyonyi wins 800m race on his Diamond League debut in Rabat
www.standardmedia.co.ke | By Jonathan Komen
Emmanuel Wanyonyi celebrating after clocking 1:43.76 record in 800m final during World Athletics U20 Championships at the Moi International Sports Complex. Aug 22, 2021. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]
World under 20 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi stretched his two- The women’s 400m saw the Dominican Republic’s Olympic silver medallist lap race dominance at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Ath- and world leader Marileidy Paulino finish two metres clear in 50.10, with letisme de Rabat on Sunday evening. Sada Williams of Barbados second in 50.74 and Stephenie Ann McPherson of Jamaica third in 51.37. Wanyonyi, 17, followed up his victory in Ostrava on Wednesday with another assured display that belied his age, maintaining himself within strik- It was a bad night for Kenyans in men’s 3,000m steeplechase –a race often ing distance of the lead throughout and finishing strongest in 1:45.47. billed as ‘Made in Kenya for Kenyans – as local hero Soufiane El Bakkali, Morocco’s golden champion of the Tokyo Olympics, won in a meeting Botswana’s fast-finishing 2012 Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos was record and world lead of 7:58.28. second in 1:45.66 with France’s Gabriel Tual striving hugely for third place in 1:45.71. Earlier the large crowd, relishing the return of the Wanda Diamond League to this arena for the first time in three years, had voiced huge dismay as Kenya’s Collins Kipruto dropped away to fourth over the final 50 metres, Norway’s Olympic 400m hurdles champion and world record-holder but his compatriots Emmanuel Korir and Olympic silver medallist Fergu- Karsten Warholm, making his keenly anticipated 2022 debut, pulled up son Rotich, the respective Olympic gold and silver medallists, had an even and held his right hamstring after clearing the first hurdle. less happy time in warm but blustery conditions, finishing eighth and 10th respectively in 1:46.93 and 1:47.72. After that downswing, the final upswing created such excitement that El Bakkali, having once more defeated the man he beat to gold in Tokyo – Like the men’s steeplechase, the women’s 3000m produced sustained com- Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma – was mobbed by youngsters as he attempted petition as 2013 world silver medallist Mercy Cherono and European in- to leave the arena. door champion Amy-Eloise Markovc battled all the way down the finishing straight before the Kenyan edged home in 8:40.29, 0.03 clear. He had tracked Girma all the way before choosing his moment, always appearing in control of his fortunes. It was a huge marker for his prospects of Cherono had tracked the US-based Briton round the final bend before adding world gold this summer to the silver and bronze he already owns. striking for home, but Markovc resolutely refused to let any light develop between them and was rewarded with a personal best of 8:40.32, with Girma also dipped under eight minutes, clocking 7:59.24, with his comEthiopian teenager Medina Eisa third in 8:41.42. patriot Hailemariyam Tegegn, who had kept in touch with the two leaders until the final lap, third in a personal best of 8:06.29. Three years after making his international debut at this meeting – where he finished fourth in 20.51 – Kenny Bednarek returned as the Olympic Behind him, the revived and recuperated 2016 Olympic champion Cons200m silver medallist, and he gave a performance in keeping with that eslus Kipruto took fourth place in 8:12.47, with India’s Avinash Mukund standing as he won in 20.21 from lane seven, comfortably clear of South Sable fifth in a national record of 8:12.48. A momentous race. Africa’s Luxolo Adams, who clocked 20.35.
TT 155 | June 7th- June 13th| 2022 The Times Today is a publication of Elizabeth Omondi Consultancy. P.O. Box 833-00100 GPO Nairobi. Tel: 0722 927792. www.thetimestoday.wordpress.com
