WXC Belgrade 24: Ethiopia triumphs in U20 race as Jebet finishes fourth

Kenya was seeking the country’s first women’s U20 team title since 2013 and unfortunately, the quest will continue as Sheila Jebet and Diana Cherotich finished third and fourth, while Ethiopia continued it’s dominance with the first three places. 15-year old Marta Alemayo surprisingly won (19:28) ahead of Asayech Ayichew, who clocked at 19:32, followed by Robe Dida (19:38). It was Dida who overtook Jebet in the last 100 meters of the race and won the bronze medal.

The race was six kilometres long, with 84 athletes participating in the 3 lap race.

It wasn’t long before the group led by Jebet, Cherotich, Ayichew and Alemayo took over and soon, they were leading the group. The distance between the Ethiopia/Kenya group was bigger and bigger as the race was near it’s finish and Kenyan girls were looking good, even leading a few times (Cherotich). It was actually Alemayo, Cherotich and Chemutai who were leading after the first lap while Ayichew took over the third place over Chemutai, while Jebet was in 10th place the time, nine seconds behind leading Ademayo. She speeded up in the final lap, and even had a comfortable third place in the middle of the third lap, before losing her pace to Dida.