by Justin Lagat
Hellen Obiri, photo by PhotoRun.net
Elijah Manangoi, photo by PhotoRun.net
Justin Lagat wrote this piece on Day 7 of the Commonwealth Games, where Kenya won two gold medals, in both the women’s 5000 meters and men’s 1,500 meters giving Kenya two more gold medal!
Hellen Obiri and Elijah Manangoi harvest two more gold medals for Kenyan on the 7th day of athletics at the Carrara Stadium in Gold Coast.
The seventh day of athletics became the best ever day for Kenyans at the Games so far after Hellen and Manangoi delivered gold medals in the women 5000m and the men 1500m races respectively with their compatriots Margaret Chelimo and Timothy Cheruiyot winning the silver medals as well. Since Kinyamal opened the gates for the gold medals on the fifth day of athletics for Kenya, the nation has never lacked a gold medal every single day since then. If only the Games had started with the men’s 800m!
Both Obiri and Chelimo seemed to have been in a class of their own in the women 5000m race having pulled away from the rest of the field with a few laps to go. Having won the world championships title last year in a big clash with Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, Obiri’s chances here looked much better and as long as they were still together with Chelimo with less than 200m to go, she knew she could count on her strong finishing kick to win the title. Sure enough, with about 150m to go, Obiri started opening a gap on Chelimo that kept increasing as she went to win the gold medal in 15:13.11 against Chelimo’s 15:15.28. Laura Weightman of England won the bronze in 15:25.84.
In the men’s 1500m race, Timothy Cheruiyot offered himself to do much of the pacing duties at the front with Australia’s Luke Mathews, featuring briefly at the front before moving back again and leaving the entire job to Cheruiyot. In a moderately fast pace, all the three Kenyans were soon leading at the front. It was when the dash for the medals began at around the 200m mark that another Kenyan, Kumari Taki began to falter and got overtaken by a number of athletes as the battle for the title became a clear one between Manangoi and Cheruiyot. It was Manangoi who prevailed to take the victory in 3:34.78 with Cheruiyot taking the silver in 3:35.17. The bronze medal almost landed on exactly the same spot on the world map where the women’s 5000m, Jake Wightman ensured that it landed on Scottland in 3:35.97.
