by Justin Lagat
Caster Semenya, Faith Kipyegon, Jenny Simpson, Laura Muir, photo by PhotoRun.net
Here’s Justin Lagat story on the amazing 1,500 meters that we witnessed last night! An amazing race! Watch for more coming soon!
Faith Kipyegon wins a very unpredictable and competitive 1500m final on Day 4 of the London world championships.
There were three finals on the fourth day of the world championships; the women Triple Jump, the men 110m hurdles and the women 1500m. There were three gold medals to be won as well, and it was Omar Mcleod who won the first one by running 13.04 in the hurdles final, the first gold medal for Jamaica in the championships. The second gold medal went to Yolimar Rojas of Venezuela who jumped 14.91m in the Trible Jump just as the women 1500m runners were lining up to battle for the other remaining gold medal of the night. Arguably, the exciting event of the evening was going to be the women’s 1500m race.
In a world championship race, it is not that easy to predict a clear winner especially in a 1500m race because it all depends on how the whole race is run. A fast pace, a slow pace, getting boxed inside lane one on the final bend, or pacing the rest of the field and getting overtaken all play a role in determining the winner. Anyone who qualifies to the finals regardless of whether it was a small or a capital “Q” stands a chance to win the race. Given the line up here, the women’s 1500m race was definitely one of the most unpredictable races.
It was a tense race given that all the runners resorted to a slow run and were still together in a pack almost up to the last 400m when Sifan Hassan suddenly moved from behind to the front and began a dash just before the bell. The rest of the field reacted and followed her. On the back straight, it seemed as though the contention for the gold medal was between her and Faith Kipyegon as the two developed a small gap from the rest with Hassan still setting the pace. Kipyegon was at Hassan’s shoulder on the final bend and with almost fifty meters to go, Hassan began to fade as Kipyegon went ahead to win the gold medal in 4:02.59. Jennifer Simpson came strongly on the final stretch to overtake some runners and took the silver medal in 4:02.76 followed by Caster Semenya diving across the line in 4:02.90.
It is the heats that build up the excitement for a great final and the men’s 200m heats, earlier on, had produced some performances that leaves one wondering how the final will unfold. Van Niekerk and Daniel Talbot kept looking at each other as they smiled crossing the finish line as though they were strolling in 20.16 in their heat, Yohan Blake won the first heat comfortably while Jereem Richards ran the fastest heat in 20.05 and didn’t even seem to be straining. Will one of Usain Bolt’s world records be broken here in London before his eyes? Could the next Usain Bolt appear in the men’s 200m race? One other favorite in the event, Isaac Makwala failed to start in the 200m heats raising questions as to what might have happened to him and whether this will affect his participation in the 400m final tomorrow.
Tomorrow night, as Kenya’s results of the general elections will be trickling in from different polling stations across the country in the evening, athletic fans here will be as well eager to see the results of the men’s 3000m steeplechase and 800m finals.
