Simiu, Kandie settle for silver and bronze as Uganda's Kiplimo deny Kenyans gold medal in 10,000m final
Athletics
By
Kirsten Kanja
| Aug 03, 2022
Daniel Simiu and Kibiwott Kandie bagged silver and bronze in the men's 10,000m taking Kenya's medal count at the Commonwealth Games to four as Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo won the title.
Kiplimo's win means the Ugandans have now won the last five editions of the event through Boniface Kiprop in 2006, Moses Kipsiro (2010, 2014) and Joshua Cheptegei (2018) with Kenya winning their last title 20 years ago courtesy of Wilberforce Talel.
Simiu matched Kiplimo step by step before pushing past the Ugandan at the bell and then Kiplimo responded with an extra gear with 200m to go to win gold in a Games Record time of 27:09.19.
Simiu settled for silver in a new personal best time of 27:11.26 while Kandie came home third in 27:20.34, a new personal best.
Edward Zakayo who had hoped to add another medal to his 5,000m bronze medalist from the 2018 Games in Gold Coast, Australia, faded to a distance fourth after clocking 27:39.03.
The final field had only nine athletes, but suddenly narrowed down to Kenyan charges alongside Kiplimo with Sam Atkin of England and Scottish Andrew Butchart in the mix.
Atkin dropped out of the race with Simiu and Zakayo exchanging the lead before Zakayo started to fade away leaving Kandie, Simiu and Kiplimo to battle it out for the medals.
Simiu was satisfied with result and saluted the Ugandan for coming out stronger despite displaying good team effort amongst themselves.
"We deployed teamwork, but our opponent was a bit stronger. I tried to push away from him in the final lap, but I ran out gas. For now, I'm satisfied with this silver, especially winning another silver at the African championships. Maybe the next championship that comes my way I will be able to win gold, you never know about tomorrow," Simiu said.
With World championships qualification standard achieved at the Commonwealth Games, Simiu and Kandie now turn their focus to next year's global championships in Budapest, Hungary.
"I wanted to win this championship, that's why I came here, but it's unfortunate my body did not respond as I had expected," said Kandie, a former world half marathon record holder.
After securing a second gold medal for Uganda in Birmingham, Kiplimo is planning ahead and focusing on World championships and the Paris 2024 Olympics.
"I think for me winning this Commonwealth Games title was everything, the most important thing for me this season. But I still have a lot of things to do in the future at the Olympics and World Championships," said Kiplimo.