Kenya bags gold, bronze in World Under-20 Championships

Betty Chelangat

Betty Chelangat of Kenya celebrates after winning the women's 3,000m race during the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.

Photo credit: Marta Gorczynska | World Athletics

What you need to know:

  • She started the season with a third position finish in the four-lap race during the Kenya Prisons National Championships at Kasarani in April.
  • Last year, Kenya bagged gold and silver medals in the distance through Japan-based Teresiah Muthoni and Zenah Jemutai who were in first and second positions with Ethiopia’s Melknat Wudu settling for third place. 

Kenya Tuesday won gold and bronze medals in the women's 3,000m race on the first day of the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.

Betty Chelangat led after four laps and held on to the lead all the way to the finish line timing 9:01.03 ahead of Ethiopia’s Tsiyon Abebe, who bagged silver in 9:03.85, while Kenya’s Nancy Cherop settled for bronze in 9:05.98.

It was a slow race that saw Kenyans run tactically with their Ethiopian counterparts being careful before they increased pace in the fourth lap with Chelangat taking control of the pace.

During the national trials last year at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Chelangat was fourth in the 1,500m and missed out on the place in the final team.

She started the season with a third position finish in the four-lap race during the Kenya Prisons National Championships at Kasarani in April.

Last year, Kenya bagged gold and silver medals in the distance through Japan-based Teresiah Muthoni and Zenah Jemutai, with Ethiopia’s Melknat Wudu settling for third place. 

5000m heartbreak

Elsewhere, Kenya out on a missed a medal in the men's 5,000m race after Samuel Kibathi and Nelson Mandela finished sixth and eighth respectively in the final.

Kibathi fell in the last few metres coming timing 14:07.82 as Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune won gold in 14:03.05 ahead of Eritrea’s Merhawi Mebrahtu, who clocked 14:03.33, while his compatriot Samuel Habtom settled for bronze in 14:03.67.