Mbithe, Cherotich advance to women's 1,500m final
Winfred Mbithe celebrates after winning the women's 1,500m second semi-final at the World Under-20 Championships at Zawisza Staduim, Bydgoszcz, Poland on July 22, 2016. PHOTO | AYUMBA AYODI |
What you need to know:
- Mbithe hit the front in the last 100m to win the second semi-final in the fastest qualifying time.
- Cherotich finished second in 4:16.41 in the first semi-final to also qualify for the final.
IN BYDGOSZCZ, POLAND
Kenya’s Winfred Mbithe and Joyline Cherotich on Friday advanced to the women’s 1,500m final at the ongoing World Under-20 Championships at Zawisza Stadium, Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Mbithe hit the front in the last 100m to win the second semi-final in the fastest qualifying time of 4 minutes and 12.39 seconds to storm into the final where she will be out to atone for her seventh place finish at the 2014 World Under-20 Championships in Eugene.
The Youth Olympics 1,500m and Africa Cross junior silver medallist beat Alexa Efraimson from the USA and Ethiopian Fantu Worku in 4:13.12 and 4:13.84 to second and third respectively.
Cherotich finished second in 4:16.41 in the first semi-final to also qualify for the final.
Ethiopia’s Adanech Anbesa won the semi-final in 4:15.53 after outsprinting Cherotich and USA’s Christina Aragon, who clocked 4:18.93 to finish fourth and also reach the final.
“I am glad we all qualified for the final. We should now plan well how we shall tackle to final,” said Mbithe.
Cherotich, the World Youth 1,500m bronze medallist, was beaming with confidence ahead of the final.
“I will give it a good shot and hopefully victory will be mine,” said Cherotich, who finished 12th at the 2015 World Cross Country in Beijing, China.
