Grace Wanjiru gave Kenya her third track-and-field gold, which was the fourth gold medal overall after defying biting early morning cold around the Concorde Sports Complex yesterday.
Wanjiru’s gold medal, won in 1:38.27, was complemented by a silver medal finish by Samuel Gathimba in the men’s 20km walk (1:26.42), a brilliant start for a dull day that experienced morning light showers after the previous night in which Ethiopia disappointed Kenya’s challenge for the 10,000m gold.
Kenya won gold medals in women’s 5,000m and men’s 3,000m steeplechase on the opening day of track and field on Sunday.
Tsebelu Zewude sprinted past Kenya’s Leonard Barsoton on the final stretch to win the 10,000m in 27:27.19, with the Kenyan crossing the line in 27:27.55 and another Ethiopian Adugna Takele third in 27:28.40.
Vincent Kipsegechi Yator was fourth in 27:40.08 and Geoffrey Kipkorir fifth in 28:09.65.
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Like the previous night where Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes broke away from the women’s 5,000 pack, the three Kenyans and a third Ethiopian, Mule Wasihun, completely dominated the 25-lap event, and pretty much exchanged the lead before the half stage.
Eunice Kadogo had earlier given Kenyans a huge accomplishment, winning silver in the 100m race, won by Ivorian Marie Josse Talou.
Kenyan sprinters hardly reach the final of major competitions outside the East African region.
Kadogo not only took Kenya to the final, but also won a silver, an achievement only comparable to Ruth Waithera’s reaching the final of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The Ivorian won in 11.02 seconds, capping a dramatic night for the Ivorians, who also won the men’s 100m, via Ben Youssef Meite in 10.04 seconds.
Annet Mwanzi also won silver in the women’s 800m (2:01.54) behind South Africa’s Caster Semenya, who won in 2:00.97. Winnie Chebet was fifth in 2:02.67.
Kenyans made it to the final of 400m with Boniface Mweresa finishing second in his semi-final in 45.15 behind Botswana’s Isaac Makwala (44.87).
Raymond Kibet sneaked through after finishing third in 45.66 while Alex Sampao won his race in 45.31, followed by Sudanese Sadam Elnour (45.41) and Zambia’s Saviour Kombe (45.57).
Ronald Kwemoi finished a disappointing fourth place in the 1,500m in 3:47.02 behind Ethiopian winner Mekonen Gebremedhin (3:45.73), Abdi waiss Mouhyadine of Djibouti in 3:45.98 and Salim Keddar of Algeria (3:46.31).
Kenya’s 4x100m men’s relay team qualified for the semis after finishing second behind Namibia in 39.71.
The Kenyan quartet were Peter Mwai, Gilbert Otieno, Mark Otieno and Tony Chirchir.
