Wanyonyi, Kipruto race to victory in Ostrava

World Under-20 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi and former World Indoor Tour champion Collins Kipruto raced to victory in their respective 800m final heats at the Ostrava Golden Spike continental meeting held on 31 May. 

Up against an experienced field that had World Indoor silver medalist Noah Kibet and 2012 Olympics silver medalist Nijel Amos among others, Wanyonyi surged to the finish line, beating Slimane Moula of Algeria to gold in 1:44.15 as the latter clocked 1:44.19. 

Max Burgin clocked 1:44.54 to deny the World Under-20 bronze medalist Kibet, who has been in good form winning his first Diamond League (DL) race in Doha. Kibet finished fourth in 1:44.89 as Nijel came fifth in 1:44.92. 

Another Kenya, Collins Tuwei, clocked 1:45.10 to finish seventh in a season best time. 

Meanwhile, Kipruto who was opening his outdoor season on the international scene, having acted as a pace maker at the Kip Keino Classic on home soil managed a sub 1:45 at 1:44.58 to win the heat. 

Kipruto beat Ethiopia’s Tolese Bodena (1:44.90) and Czech Republic's Tomas Vystrk (1:46.40) both managing Personal Bests. 

"It was a good race and I am happy for the win in a season opener. My last international competition was at the Indoor Championship where I picked a slight injury and that slowed me down during the national championship as I was careful not to aggravate it further. I am well recovered now. 

I will be in Montreuil France on Thursday for another race then head to Rabat on 5 June for the DL. A this in preparation for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games trials," said Kipruto. 

The other Kenyan in Ostrava Barnabas Kipyego finish 16th in the men's 3000m steeplechase clocking 8:51.21. He fell at the second water jump and never recovered from the fall, pushing himself to finish last in a race that had four dropping out. Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma won the race in 7:58.68.