Kenyan athletes took centre stage at the second Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season in Doha on Friday as world-leading performances and meeting records were set.
Kenya’s Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon won the women’s 800m race in a time of 1:58.26 while Morocco’s Rababe Arafi finished third in 1:59.83.
In the men’s 1,500m, Kipyegon’s compatriot Timothy Cheruiyot claimed gold in 3:30.48, finishing ahead of Australia’s Stewart McSweyn and Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali. World indoor champion Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia, who had led through the bell in 2:34, came in fourth in 3:32.52.
It was Cheruiyot’s 20th win in 22 races as he clocked a world leading time on his season debut.
Commonwealth champion Wycliffe Kinyamal led a Kenya 1-2 finish in the men’s 800m event in 1:43.91 ahead of world bronze medallist Ferguson Rotich (1:44.45).
Kinyamal’s win saw him become the first athlete to run under 1:44 over the distance this season.
21-year-old Kenyan Beatrice Chebet topped a podium sweep in the women’s 3,000m posting a leading time and a personal best of 8:27.49 to win the race.
Chebet finished ahead of her compatriots, world 5,000m silver medallist Margaret Kipkemboi, (8:28.27), Lilian Renguruk (8:28.96) and two-time world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri (8:33.98).
Norah Jeruto, another Kenyan, also posted a world leading time of in 9:00.67 in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase ahead of Ethiopia’s Mekides Abebe who finished in 9:02.52.
Hyvin Kiyeng, the 2015 world champion, who suffered a fall at the final water jump, managed to finish fourth in 9:07.58.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare came in second in the women’s 100m race in 10.90s behind Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who won in a time of 10.84s.
The next athletics meeting will take place in Rome on June 10, where the third leg of the 2021 Diamond League series will continue.
