World Athletics Championship: Kenya bag first medal, Faith Kipyegon reaches final as Omanyala disappoints
By Joel Sang, August 20, 2023Kenya’s superstar Ferdinand Omanyala finished seventh in the 100m final as Daniel Ebenyo won the first medal for Kenya in the World Athletics Championship taking place in Budapest, Hungary.
America’s Noah Lyles won the 100m final after running a world-leading 9.83 to become the world champion. After an impressive performance in the Diamond League, expectations for Omanyala were high, only for him to finish a distant seventh in 10.07.
Letsile Tebogo of Botswana became the first African to win a medal in the competition, finishing second in 9.88 while Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain was third as he ran 9.88.
Ebenyo shines
On a positive note, Daniel Ebenyo won Kenya’s first medal in the championship after winning silver when he came in second in the 10,000m race final.
The Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medallist clocked 27:52.60 as Uganda’s superstar Joshua Cheptegei defended his title after clocking 27:51.42. Selemon Barega of Ethiopia came in third at 27:52.72.
Kenya’s final representatives
Meanwhile, Faith Kipyegon and Nelly Chepchirchir qualified for the women’s 1500m final scheduled for Thursday.
Chepchirchir competed in heat one and finished first after running 4:02.14. In second place came Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom in 4:02.46, and Ciara Mageean of Ireland was third in 4:02.70, and both qualified for the final too.
Kipyegon, the defending champion, contested heat two and ran in 3:55.14, beating Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji, while Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was third.
In the men’s 1500m, Reynold Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang qualified for the final.
Kipsang was in heat one and finished second to Yared Nuguse of the USA, while Niels Laros of the Netherlands finished third. World U20 champion Cheruiyot was in heat two and qualified after finishing sixth.
Pre-tournament favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won the race, with Josh Kerr of Great Britain coming in second.
On a disappointing note for Kenya, Timothy Cheruiyot finished in the ninth position, which means the 2019 World Champion will not participate in the final.