Kenya finish second as Cheruiyot wins 1,500m

Kenya picked up one more gold medal on the final day of the IAAF World Championships to finish in second position behind leaders United States of America.

The Kenyans bagged 11 medals including five gold, two silver and four bronze in the 10-day Championships. USA, which sent the biggest contingent to Doha, on the other hand collected 29 medals. The tally included 14 gold, 11 silver and four bronze.

Yesterday at the Khalifa Stadium, Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot led from the front to win the men’s 1,500m, going one better than his silver medal in the event two years ago.

The 23-year-old had a huge lead at the bell and the pack never really looked like catching him around the final lap as he strode home to win in three minutes 29.26 seconds.

Taoufik Makhloufi, the 2012 Olympic champion from Algeria, led the chasing pack and took silver, delighting a noisy, flag-waving contingent of fans from the North African country on the first bend.

Marcin Lewandowski set a Polish record as he took bronze.

In the men’s 10,000m, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei triumphed after a close battle, winning his first world title and bringing his country their second medal of the championships.

Cheptegei remained near the front of the pack for most of the race and surged in the final kilometre to pass leader Rhonex Kipruto and held off the challenge of Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia to finish in a world leading time of 26 minutes 48.36 seconds.

Kejelcha finished just under one second behind Cheptegei, clinching silver with a personal best time of 26:49.34.

Kenya’s Kipruto had to settle for bronze after having led for most of the race, crossing the finish line in 26:50.32.

In the men’s javelin throw, Anderson Peters became only the second athlete in history to win a gold medal for Grenada.

Peters, 21, stunned the field with a winning throw of 86.89m, bettering his personal best by more than two metres. He led from the first round, thanks to his 86.69m, improving it to win by 78cm ahead of Magnus Kirt.

“I didn’t think 86m would be enough to win gold. I was up against 90m men throwing high 88’s all season. I just believed in my coach and the work we did all season and eventually I became world champion,” said Peters.

Kirt of Estonia took the silver medal with a throw of 86.21 while Germany’s Johannes Vetter took bronze with 85.37.

Former Olympic and world 400m champion Kirani James is the only other athlete to win a gold medal in Grenada’s history.

In the women’s long jump, Malaika Mihambo of Germany took one of the biggest leaps of recent years and raised her own personal best by 14 centimetres to clinch gold at the Championships.

The environmental sciences student, a favorite going into the competition but faced elimination if she did not improve on her previous jumps, Mihambo jumped 7.30 meters in the third round. It was the second-best leap by anyone in the last 15 years, topped only by a 7.31 from Brittney Reese of the United States in 2016.

“On my first attempt I had too many quick steps and the 6.52m jump was not enough. The second attempt was a fault, I stepped on the board. The third attempt had to work. I told myself ‘You have to make this one valid, no matter what.’ And it worked. 7.30m is amazing, I do not know if I will ever jump that far again in my life,” said a delighted Mihambo.

“In training, I do not remember having managed a jump like that. I knew that whole season through that I was in good shape, I was the world leader. I am really very happy that I was able to get the gold medal and stay the world leader. Today I showed that I am capable of such a great jump. I am over the moon. Thanks very much to all the people who have supported me,” she added.

The silver went to Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk with 6.92, one centimetre ahead of Nigerian bronze medallist Ese Brume.