Nelly Chepchirchir into women's 800m final in Cali

Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir Tuesday qualified for the final of the women's 800m at the ongoing World Athletics Under-20 in Cali, Colombia on Wednesday morning.

It was a tight race for Chepchirchir who qualified as the fastest loser after coming in third place.

Chepchirchir took lead in the final lap in the second heat leading up to the last few metres before she was beaten to third place clocking 2:02.03 with Great Britain’s Abigael Ives winning the race in 2:01.92 ahead of USA’s Juliette Whittaker who was second in 2:01.92.

Kenya's Everlyne Chepkoech finished a distance seventh after clocking 2:07.40 in the other heat won by USA’s Roisin Willis who timed 2:02.49 ahead of Australia’s Claudia Hollingsworth who clocked 2:03.25, while Ethiopia’s Ksanet Alem finished in third place clocking 2:03.44.

Chepchirchir trains in Kapsabet, Nandi County under her coach Janeth Jepkosgei and will be looking to forward to finish in the in the medal bracket on Thursday.

Last year during the global event held in Nairobi, Kenya did not win any medal in the race.