Sensational Birech wins again, Kwemoi upsets Kiplagat in Lausanne

World 800m champion Eunice Sum and fast-rising 3,000m steeplechase sensation Jairus Birech on Thursday night extended their Diamond League Series leads with emphatic victories in Lausanne, Switzerland.

It was a great night for Kenyans as World 5,000m silver medallist Mercy Cherono stumped her authority for her third victory in the women’s 3,000m race as Ronald Kwemoi stunned former World silver medallist Silas Kiplagat in the men’s 1,500m race.

Sum, who remains unbeaten since winning the World title in August last year in Moscow, stretched her Series lead to 16 points, setting a season’s best of 1:58.48 after previous wins in Doha and Rome.

Pacemaker Agatha Jeruto led through the first lap in 54.96 but Sum was close at hand, soon after got to the front and maintained her lead to the finish.

STRONG FINISH

Russia’s 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Yekaterina Poistogova came through strong on the final lap but had to settle for second place in 1:58.79. Ethiopian teenager Tigist Assefa was third in a personal best of 1:59.24.

Birech is fast becoming a house-hold name and in Lausanne, he turned the men’s 3000m steeplechase into a one-man affair. Birech was unchallenged to triumph in 8:03.34, beating World silver medallist Conseslus Kipruto, who is making a comeback from an injury.

Kipruto finished more than eight seconds behind in 8:11.93. After being led through 1000m in 2:39.80 and then passing 2000m in 5:21.62, it appeared as though Birech still had a chance to break the meeting record of 8:01.62, but eased off towards the end.

Lausanne’s show saw Birech, who won in Rome and Oslo, clocking a world-leading 8:02.37 in the latter, stretch his lead to 12 points.

In women’s 3,000m, Ethiopia’s World Indoor champion Genzebe Dibaba kicked hard with 300 metres remaining and opened up a marginal gap, but she couldn’t quite shake off the rest of the field. Cherono moved on to her shoulder coming off the final bend and passed Genzebe with 50 metres to go, winning in 8:50.24.

NEVER LOST

Kwemoi may not be a popular athlete locally, but the 18-year-old Kenyan has never lost a 1500m race.

He maintained that record in Lausanne where he stunned a quality field that included 2011 world silver medallist Silas Kiplagat, Ethiopian record holder Aman Wote, USA’s world silver medallist Matt Centrowitz and former world indoor champion Abdalaati Iguider from Morocco.

Led by the pacemakers through 800m in 1:51.06 and 1200m in 2:50.06, Kwemoi kicked hard on the final lap to surge ahead of Kiplagat. The teenager continued to charge towards the line and stopped at 3:31.48, the fastest time in the world by a junior in 10 years.

Kiplagat finished a few strides behind in 3:31.81 with another Kenyan, James Magut, taking third in 3:31.91