Kenyan Kipruto delighted after close win

Kenyan Conseslus Kipruto won the men’s 3,000m steeplechase final of the IAAF World on Friday by just 0.01 seconds.

Kipruto finished the race in 8:01.35 while Ethiopian  Lamecha Girma clocked 8:01.36.

The events leading to Kipruto’s gold winning feat is one stuff which makes the champions stand out . Having been down with a stress fracture all summer Kipruto build a pool in his back yard so he could aqua jog using a blow-up ring.

“I had two and a half months without training. Then I decided to do some exercise in a swimming pool. Many people were saying, ‘What is this?’, said Kipruto.

“In my celebrations I was telling the people, ‘I am still here.’ You know, after my injury people were saying I wasn’t going to make it to the World Championships. So I was telling the fans and people in the world that I am still here. I was there to save my title.”

“I ran the last Diamond League in Brussels and it was like I was walking on grass. So I went home and trained on my speed. And after running my semi-final here I knew I was in good shape. I knew I was going to do it when I came the final. And I am happy I did.”

Kipruto said the race was difficult with  Girma and Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocoo close on his heals.

“It was a really difficult race today. In the last lap I had planned to kick from the last 200m. But El Bakkali was there and I was surprised. He was really passing at a high speed so I changed my plans.

“So I re-focussed on jumping the last barrier in the lead, but I made a mistake there and Girma was a couple of metres ahead of me. I had to kick so hard. In my mind I just thought of the gold and being world champion.

“I didn’t want to risk losing this event. They always say it is a Kenyan event, so it was up to me to keep it. But it was tight and when I crossed the line I thought, ‘Please let the first man be Conseslus’. I waited and prayed and then I looked at the screen. I saw it was my name and I was very happy.”

The Kenayan was happy to run the final in front of a full stadium.

“It was a great crowd. I was happy when I saw a large crowd from Kenya. They were cheering and singing my name and singing about my country. The victory belongs to Kenya, this event belongs to Kenya.

“And that meant I knew I had to fight today and win this event. I was so happy having such a great crowd. It was almost taking my attention from the race because when I was running I was hearing my name and thinking ‘What are they saying about me?’”

Girma was disappointed by the narrow loss which kept him away from the gold.

“As you saw the weather was good and this race was good for me. I thought I would be first, but unfortunately, by one micro-second, I lost the gold.”