by Justin Lagat
When an event is exciting, it ends sooner than expected. The evening of the second day of athletics action at the Athletics Center in Budapest was so.
Fans were thrilled, and the stadium was often filled with wild cheering as athletes from the host country featured in the men’s Hammer Throw and the women’s Heptathlon events.
But the day’s climax came in the evening’s last two races: the men’s 10,000m final and the 100m final.
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei got a third successive gold medal at the world championships in the longest event on track after a sprint finish from the last 500m of the race. In a finishing time of 27:51.42, the world record holder was clear ahead of Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo, who overtook Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega within the last 10m of the race to take home the silver medal in 27:52.60 against Barega’s 27:52.72.
Budapest, Hungary
August 19-27, 2023, photo by Kevin Morris
For Cheptegei and Ebenyo, these were the first medals for their respective countries at the championships.
Cheptegei’s countryman, Joel Ayego, had led the race up to the 2800m mark before the rest of the group closed the gap, but he continued to lead. At 3200m, Kenya’s Benard Kibet took to the front, and two Ugandans, Joshua Cheptegei and Ayego, remained at his heels.
The Seiko clock showed 14:21.75 at the 5000m mark, with Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia exchanging the lead with Kenya’s Benard Kibet.
With 11 laps to go, Kibet made a surge, and the race soon got exciting as the main contenders began to move to the front. A pack of nine remained with three laps to go, it was down to seven with two to go, and the kick for the finish line would start in the penultimate lap.
Earlier in the evening, there was a huge surprise in the men’s 100m semi-finals after the defending Champion, Fred Kerley, narrowly missed a place in the final. Omanyala finished 3rd in the first heat and failed to get the automatic qualification. Akani Simbine was disqualified after a false start. Kenya’s hopes to get a medal in the 100m event were renewed when Omanyala squeezed himself through the eye of a needle into the finals.
After the sweet surprise for Kenya, Nelly Chepchirchir came and easily won the first semifinal of the women’s 1500m in 4:02.14 ahead of Birke Haylom of Ethiopia in 4:02.46 and Ciara Mageean of Ireland in 4:02.70.
In a fast 2nd heat of the women’s 1500m semi-finals, Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon won the race in 3:55.14 ahead of Diribe Welteji in 3:55.18 and Sifan Hassan in 3:55.48.
In the men’s version of the race, Abel Kipsang made it an honest 1500m race by setting a fast pace in the first heat from the start. In a strong finishing kick, Yared Nuguse of the USA won it in 3:32.69, while Kipsang took second in 3:32.72. Niels Laros of the Netherlands ran a new national record of 3:32.74 to finish in the top three.
The second heat was a bit slow as they crossed the first lap in 60 seconds. The slow start was a recipe for a crowded and furious finish, but Jakob Ingebrigtsen had the fastest kick of them all as he won the race in 3:34.98 ahead of Josh Kerr of Great Britain (3:35.14) and Cole Hocker of the USA (3:35.23).
