Norah Jeruto who represented Kenya as recent as 2016 when she won the Africa Championships gold in Durban, South Africa, yesterday returned to haunt her country of birth as she convincingly won the women 3000m steeplechase race at the ongoing World Championships in Oregon.

Back at the place where she had become the third-fastest women’s 3000m steeplechaser of all time, Jeruto now running for Kazakhstan, graduated from world U18 champion to senior world champion, leading a historic race at the global showpiece.

The 26-year-old clocked 8:53.65 at Hayward Field last year and emulated that on Wednesday (20), running a championship record of 8:53.02 to consolidate her No.3 spot on the all-time list.

In the first women’s 3000m steeplechase race in history where the top three all dipped under nine minutes, Jeruto was followed over the finish line by Ethiopia’s African champion Werkuha Getachew in a 8:54.61 national record and Olympic fourth-place finisher Mekides Abebe in a PB of 8:56.08. Those times move them to fourth and fifth respectively behind Jeruto on the world all-time list.

It’s Jeruto’s first senior global gold and the first ever title for Kazakhstan at the World Athletics Championships.

It was in Lille in 2011 that Jeruto won the world U18 2000m steeplechase title for Kenya. In the process of switching her allegiance to Kazakhstan last year, she missed the Olympic Games but returned to international competition in superb style in Oregon.

Bahrain’s 2019 world fourth-placer Winfred Yavi and Jeruto had gone straight to the front of a strong field and stretched it out early on. Jeruto led through the first kilometre in 2:57.72, followed by Yavi and athletes including USA’s 2017 world champion Emma Coburn, Uganda’s Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai, Getachew and Abebe.

The race looked to be a battle between Jeruto, Yavi and Getachew with three laps to go and Jeruto narrowly maintained her place at the front through 2000m, passed in 5:58.29.

Jetuto was a couple of strides ahead with two laps remaining but the leading trio still hadn’t shaken Abebe and the 21-year-old closed the gap, sitting in third behind Yavi and Jeruto at the bell. Yavi pushed ahead but Jeruto fought back and dealt best with the final water jump. That helped her to create a gap on her rivals and when she neatly cleared the final barrier she was away, spreading her arms wide in celebration.