Marrakech Diary: African Athletics Championships: Golden treble for Blessing, Ivorian Koffi wins men’s dash, by Evelyn Watta

African Athletics championships: Golden treble for Blessing, Ivorian Koffi wins men’s dash, by Evelyn Watta

Nigerian Blessing Okagbare secured her third gold in about two weeks with a flawless run and strong finish in the women’s 100m ahead of Ivorian Muriel Ahoure at the Stade de Grande in Marrakech.

The 25-year old who won the 100m and 200m at the Commonwealth games in Glasgow claimed victory in 11.00, an African record. 

Ahoure finished in 11.03 seconds ahead of compatriot Marie Ta Lou who claimed bronze in 11.20 as the African Athletics championships entered its second day.

“It has been an exhausting last two weeks but it feels good to come here and regain my title. It was not the fastest time as I would have wished but it was difficult as much as the body is in shape, its tired too,” said Okagbare, the 2010 winner from Nairobi explaining her slow start in sweltering conditions.

“I am very disappointed.I worked so hard for this to come second is not what I expected. Now am looking to challenge for gold in Beijing (World championships),” said Ahoure, the double silver winner at the worlds in Moscow.

The Ivorian’s turned tables on their West African sprint rivals Nigeria in the men’s dash with Wilfred Koffi beating Mark Jelks(10.07)in a sprint finish in 10.05 , a national record.

“My prayers have been answered with this gold medal. My coach sent me a message and told me to focus and go for it and that’s what I did,” said the Chinese based athlete where he is currently undertaking a masters in Finance. His coach Ivan Knut is based in Germany.

Ayana grabs 5000m gold

Ethiopian Almaz Ayana upset the form favourites her teammate Genzebe Dibaba and Kenyan Commonwealth games champion Mercy Cherono winning the women’s 5000m. Ayana’s unanticipated surge early in the race set a new games record of 15:32.72 way ahead of a sore Dibaba(15:42.16) as Kenyan Janet Kisa closed in at 15:54.04 for her second season medal after the silver she won just over a week ago in Scotland.

“I didn’t expect to win the gold, I am very happy,” said Ayana as Dibaba was left to rue a spike triggered bleeding toe injury.

Margaret Wangare(15:55.18) and a drained Cherono, the silver winner at last years Worlds(16:08.81) rounded up the top five positions.

There were no surprises in the men’s 800m as all the favourites Olympic silver medalist Amos Nijel of Botswana, Mohammed Aman of Ethiopia and the defending champion Algerian Taofik Makhloufi all sailed through to finals alongside the Kenyan trio looking to fill the large shoes of their World record holder David Rudisha. Kenya’s Fergusson Rotich topped the qualifying semis in 1:45.80 as Aman (1:46.63) crossed ahead of Amos who timed 1:46.72. Kenyan Cornelius Kiplagat, Rudisha’s replacement closed in for third in 1:46.31 as compatriot Evans Kipkorir won the third heat timing 1:48.46.

South Africans swept the medals in the men’s discuss and long jump competition. Zarck Visser retained his long jump gold with a leap of 8.08 as he led a South African sweep of medals. Victor Hogan’s throw of 62.87 earned him the top spot in the discuss. 

Rikenette Steenkamp had begun the South African rout with an edgy 110m hurdles, a win that was decided by the delayed photo finish after identical 13.26 timings with Ivorian Rosvitha Bodjiho. 

Selected results

800m semifinal 2

1.Mohamed Aman ETH 1:46.63

2.Nijel Amos BOT 1:46.72

3.Cornelius Kiplagat KEN 1:46.81

800m semi final 3

1. Evans Kipkorir KEN 1:48.66

2.Taofik Makhloufi ALG 1:48.90

3.Mamush Shirko ETH 1:49.90

400m women heat 1

1. Folashade Abugan NGR 52.09

2.Djenebou Dante MLI 53.19

3.Justine Palframan RSA 53.34

4.Jecinta Shikanda KEN 54.25