Emmaculate Chepkirui bags 5,000m silver in Poland

What you need to know:

  • It was Kenya’s fifth medal at the championships.
  • Kenya is now placed third in the medal standings with three gold, one silver and a bronze. USA leads with 6-5-2 followed by Cuba 3-2-0.

IN BYDGOSZCZ, POLAND

Emmaculate Chepkirui on Saturday staged a brave battle to win silver for Kenya in the women’s 5,000m at the World Under-20 Championships at Zawisza Stadium, Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Ethiopia’s Fentie Kalkidan broke away from the pack with four laps to go as Chepkirui followed swiftly before they exchanged the leads in the race.

Chepkirui blitzed through the lead at 3,000m and 4,000m in 3:34.00 and 12:31.71 respectively.

Kalkidan overtook Chepkirui just before the bell to triumph in a personal best of 15 minutes and 29.64 seconds as Chepkirui’s chase yielded silver also in a personal best of 15:31.12.

Ethiopian-born Bahraini Bontu Rebitu settled for bronze in 15:31.93 as the other Kenyan Catherine Syokau came in sixth also in personal best 15:37.79.

“It was a great race. I tried my best but my last kick failed,” said Chepkirui, who now turns her focus to next year’s World Cross Country Championships set for March in Uganda.

Head coach Robert Ngisirei hailed his athletes’ efforts saying they did their best by virtue of returning personal best times. “The Ethiopians and Rebitu were strong coming into the race with good times,” said Ngisirei.

It was Kenya’s fifth medal at the championships. Kenya is now placed third in the medal standings with three gold, one silver and a bronze. USA leads with 6-5-2 followed by Cuba 3-2-0.