by Justin Lagat
Justin Lagat just knew he had to do a preview of day six distance events. Justin was supposed to be at the World Champs, but his visa was delayed.
One of the exciting track finals of day 6 will be the women’s 3000m final.
The anticipation to watch Yavi versus Jeruto still lives on after the two made it to the finals. Norah Jeruto easily won the first heat in 9:01.54 after running alone, almost 50m ahead of the chasing pack. Yavi, on the other hand, finished 3rd in the 3rd heat that Kenya’s Celliphine Chespol won, but perhaps her aim was just to make it to the final. It will also be interesting to watch Alice Finot of France, who surprised many fans by winning the 2nd semi-final that had Peruth Chemutai, the Olympic champion, finishing 5th.
During the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Jeruto had clocked a world-leading time of 8:57.97 to win the race, with Winfred Yavi coming second in 8:58.71. Later on at the Paris Diamond League, Yavi bettered Jeruto’s world-leading time by running alone to win the race in 8:56.55.
On the Diamond League standings, Yavi is in position 1 with 15 points, but on the other hand, Jeruto is currently ranked at number one in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event by words athletics.
But, statistics favor Jeruto more. It has not been that long since she last won against Yavi in the 3000m steeplechase event at the same venue, on 28th May. She is getting used to winning the event here after she also did it at the diamond league event last year in August.
Another exciting race on track will be the women’s 5000m heats.
The medalists from the women’s 10,000m; Letesenbet Gidey (gold) and Margaret Chelimo (bronze), will be returned on track to start their quest for more medals in the 5000m event. Tsegay Gudaf who won the silver medal in the 1500m event will also be lining up in the first heat which Caster Semenya and Dawit Seyaum are also going to feature. Sifan Hassan, who just missed the medal bracket in the 10,000m final will feature in the second heat.
If there is one race that will be tricky to predict at the championships, it will be the men’s 800m, where the world bronze medalist from 2019, Ferguson Rotich, started the surprise by failing to make the Kenyan team during their national trials. There will be six heats with only three runners from each heat advancing to the semi-finals.
