TOKYO: Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet produced a devastating burst of speed to edge Kenyan teammate Faith Kipyegon for victory in the women’s 5,000m on Saturday and secure a world championships double gold.
Chebet, who last weekend won the 10,000m, clocked 14min 54.36sec for victory, depriving Kipyegon of her own 1,500/5,000m double bid by 0.71sec.
Nadia Battocletti earned a deserved bronze medal for Italy.
It was a remarkable performance by Chebet, who also won both the 5,000 and 10,000m at last year’s Paris Olympics.
“Going home with two gold medals makes me really happy,” said Chebet.
“After winning the 10,000 metres I wanted to add the 5,000 metres again, like I did in Paris.”
Chebet added: “I’ve had an amazing season. I always encourage myself and believe we don’t need to limit ourselves. When you do a good training session, you can face any challenge.
“Running with the likes of Faith and Nadia you just have to believe in yourself. Today was not an easy race. I came here without pressure and I knew I should not stress myself.
“It will be amazing bringing home gold and silver to Kenya. Faith and I have been friends for a long time. We motivate each other and I am really pleased with our performances.”
The American duo of Shelby Houlihan and Josette Andrews took to the front to set an easy-going early pace that continued until the last lap in Japan’s National Stadium.
The pack was packed tightly together, four wide in places. Kipyegon and Chebet at times ran side-by-side as the third Kenya Agnes Ngetich lurked on Andrews’ shoulder.
After the opening three laps of the 12-and-a-half lap race, the pace momentarily increased, Houlihan leading a surge that saw Chebet move up the field to sit behind Italy’s Olympic silver medallist Battocletti and the leading trio.
Houlihan remained the pace-setter with 2km to run as the east African contingent was content to ride on her coattails in a race shaping up to be decided by an electric last lap.
With 600 metres to run, Kipyegon made her move with Chebet and Ethiopia’s 2022 world champion Gudaf Tsegay in her shadow.
The 31-year-old sliced her way through the field and sat second behind Battocletti at the bell for the final 400 metres.
Around the final bend, Kipyegon was ahead, but no one had counted on Chebet’s dynamic finish, seeing off all contenders in a blistering final 50 metres to secure victory.
Tsegay, who claimed bronze in the 10,000m here, struggled as she neared the line, eventually finishing fifth as Battocletti also produced a great fast finish to seal bronze in 14:55.42, just ahead of Houlihan. – AFP
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