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L. MathekaWorld Cross Country Championships: Ismael Kirui delivers gold to end Kenya's 12-year wait
Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 18.02.23. | 09:45
Kenya had last won the junior men's team title in 2015.
Kenya has missed out on the World Athletics Cross Country Championships junior men's title since Geoffrey Kamworor win the title in 2011.
The wait, painful as it has been losing to Ethiopia and Uganda (in 2017 when Jacob Kiplimo won), is finally over as teenage sensation Ismael Kirui stepped up to bag his first world title.
Finally! Following in the footsteps of his namesake, Ismael Kirui gets Kenya gold in the @WorldAthletics @WABathurst23 men's Under-20 8km race pic.twitter.com/HW6S1khiDD
— Matheka (@Lynmatheka) February 18, 2023
At the 2023 edition held in Bathurst, Australia, Kirui clocked 24:29 to end the drought, leading Kenya to a 1-2 finish as World Under-20 champion Reynold Cheruiyot finished second in 24:30 for silver.
Ethiopia’s Boki Diriba held on for Bronze in 24:31 in one of the closest finishes of the championship.
Kenya won the men's team title by a point, finishing with 22 ahead of Ethiopia’s 23.
Meanwhile, in the women's race junior race, Kenya lost the gold win by Beatrice Chebet in 2019 as Ethiopia dominated.
Pamela Kosgei clocked 21:01 for bronze as Senayet Getachew won in 20:53 while countryman Medina Eisa delivered silver in 21:00.
Kenyans had stayed in the leading pack alongside Ethiopia with Uganda who had been touted as a strong competitor falling off after the first lap.
In the second lap, the Ethiopians were a step ahead of the Kenyan duo of Kosgei and Faith Cherotich but the Kenyans looked strong enough to challenge for a medal.
Cherotich, however, stumbled on the final bend and lost her footing slowing her down a few seconds and there was little ground left for her to recover for any medal. She finished fourth in 21:10.
