NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 5 – Faith Cherotich upgraded her bronze medal from Nairobi last year to gold in Cali as she blazed down the field, leading from gun to tape to clinch the World Under-20 3,000m steeplechase title early Friday morning.
The pint-sized 18-year old bolted to the lead from the gun and maintained a consistent pace to the finish line, clocking a winning time of 9:16.14 ahead of the Ethiopian duo of Sembo Almayew and Meseret Yeshaneh.
There was daylight between her and Almayew who clinched silver in a time of 9:30.41 while Yeshaneh 9:42.02.
The other Kenyan in the race Pamela Kosgei finished fifth.
Straight from the gun, Cherotich who finished third in Nairobi last year didn’t have two thoughts about her chances and took charge of the race by herself, bolting to the lead.
Within the opening 200m, she had already split the field, with a leading group involving her, Kosgei, the two Ethiopians and Ugandan Loice Chekwemoi.
With five laps to go, the field had further broken down to only Cherotich and the two Ethiopians, but it was a two-horse race with two to go.
But, Cherotich had already started opening up a massive gap on Almayew which grew to 50 metres and at the bell was slightly over 70m.
The pint-sized Kenyan didn’t look behind a shoulder even for a minute and comfortably sailed to victory, just missing out on the Championship record held by compatriot Celiphine Chespol.
