Ezekiel Kemboi, Eunice Sum save the day for Kenya in US

Ezekiel Kemboi with his gold medal during the medal ceremony for the men's 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 2013 IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on August 15, 2013. FILE PHOTO | KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV |

By  AYUMBA AYODI

What you need to know:

  • Kemboi, the Olympic and World champion, was simply a marvel in his specialty.
  • World junior champion Alfred Kipketer returned fourth in men’s 800m.

Ezekiel Kemboi confirmed his status as the ‘King of Steeplechase’ while Eunice Sum struck again to save the day for Kenya at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene on Saturday night.

World 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop got his tactics wrong to flop in Bowerman Mile race won by World Indoor 1,500m champion Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman.

Commonwealth champion and former World junior 1,500m champion Faith Chepng’etich and former World 10,000m and 5,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot trailed Ethiopian Gezebe Dibaba in women’s 5,000m race.

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After finishing second in Doha, World junior champion Alfred Kipketer returned fourth in men’s 800m where World champion Ethiopian Aman Mohamed reigned supreme.

Jonathan Sawe and Timothy Cheruiyot from Kenya also played failed to outwit home athlete Ben Blankenship in men’s Mile race.

Kemboi, the Olympic and World champion, was simply a marvel in his specialty as he alongside the 2014 Diamond League Series champion Jairus Birech tore the track for a show that dipped into the meeting record of 8:03.59.

THRILLING RACE

The two Kenyans were the only two remaining contenders at the final water jump. Kemboi emerged with a slight lead off the barrier and held it all the way to the finish, winning in 8:01.71 with Commonwealth silver medallist Birech, who won in Shanghai, coming in second in 8:01.83.

World silver medalist Conseslus Kipruto was third in 8:05.20 with 2011Diamond League Series winner Paul Kipsiele Koech and Commonwealth champion Jonathan Muia coming in fifth and sixth in 8:13.95 and 8:18.38 respectively.

Sum, the Commonwealth and Africa champion, and USA’s 2012 World junior champion Ajee Wilson came home clear of their rivals but Sum, fresh from winning in Shanghai, just held off the American and took the win, in a world lead time of 1:57.82. Wilson was just 0.2 away from her personal best in second place with 1:57.87.

The final lap of the Bowerman Mile was thrilling because of the presence of local star Matthew Centrowitz.

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