Rome DL Recap: Easy win for Faith Kipyegon as Omanyala finishes seventh

Three-time Olympic Games gold medalist Faith Kipyegon eased to a comfortable 1500m victory at the Diamond League meeting in Rome on Friday.

The 30-year-old, taking part in only her second Diamond League race this year, brushed aside Australia’s Jessica Hull in the final bend, sprinting home for a 3:52.89 finish.

Having come close to upending Kipyegon as the leaders hit the bell, Hull teetered off to finish only fourth, with the Ethiopian duo of Hailu Freweyni and Haylom Birke finishing second and third clocking 3:54.16 and 3:54.79 respectively.

“I am satisfied with the pace and with how the race went,” Kipyegon said post-race. “It was all about qualifying for the Diamond League final, about getting the points. I enjoyed the race, but I did not see the time.”

Kenya’s other representative Nelly Chepchirchir was fifth in an impressive season best time of 3:56.14.

Omanyala seventh in studded final

Elsewhere in the highlight event of the evening, Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala finished seventh in the men’s 100m final, which was sensationally won by new Olympic champion over 200m Letsile Tebogo.

Omanyala, who was taking part in his third race post-Olympics, was almost immediately on the backfoot of a studded lineup that included American duo of Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley, former Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs and the aforementioned Tebogo, and finished in a time of 10.08.

Tebogo, a man in fine fettle at the moment, eased to a 9.87 win, with Coleman and Kerley coming in second and third in 9.92 and 9.95 respectively.

Cherotich third in 3000m steeplechase

Meanwhile in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Kenyan prodigy Faith Cherotich finished third in an exciting final that saw Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi narrowly miss the world record by 0.07 following her emphatic sprint to the finish line.

In a final that saw all three medalists from the Paris Olympics size up again, it was Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai who set the pace early on, and looked to be going in for a revenge on gold medalist Yavi.

The Bahraini however kept her cool behind the Ugandan, and only set out on her incredible kick after the final water jump, going on to win a meeting record time of 8:44.39.

All the while, Cherotich maintained her place behind the two leaders, and just like in the Olympics, finished third again, clocking 8:57.65.

Chemutai timed a national record time of 8:48.03in second place.

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Trio struggle in 5000m final

In underwhelming fashion however, Kenya’s trio of Jacob Krop, Ronald Kwemoi and Nicholas Kimeli failed to mount a challenge in the men’s 5000m final, which was dominated by Ethiopia.

Having initially been primed for a go at the world record, the event turned to a slow one after the pacemakers exited the track, and the man with the best tactics - Hagos Gebrhiwet - sprinted to a strong finish clocking 12:51.07.

Kimeli, who at some point led before being overtaken by Yomif Kejelcha (12:51.25) and Selemon Barega (12:51.39), finished fourth in a season best time of 12:51.55, while Kimeli and Olympic silver medalist Kwemoi came home ninth and thirteenth respectively.