Former World Under-20 champion Faith Cherotich clocked a season best time of 8:55.15 to finish third in Paris Games 3000m steeplechase final that also saw Kenyan-born Bahraini Winfred Mutile Yavi capture gold medal in a new Olympic record at Stade de France on Tuesday evening.
Cherotich, who turned 20 last month, gave Kenya her fourth medal but her compatriot and world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech finished sixth in 9:04.24 to sum up a below par outing in the French capital.
Mutile blazed down the stretch upstaging defending champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda to add the Olympic gold to her world crown in a new Olympic record of eight minutes, 52.76 seconds (8:52.76).
Chemutai settled for silver, posting a national record of 8:53.34 to relinquishe her Tokyo Olympics title.
Youngster Cherotich, who is also a world bronze medalllist, termed the bronze medal ‘a big achievement’.
“I tried my best and I’m content with the third place finish. I’ve lined up against world beaters and this gives me a huge motivation as I get into this discipline proper. The final lap was really fast and when I looked around and saw my colleague Beatrice had slowed down, I vowed not to let it go and ensure that Kenya gets something,” said Cherotich.
World record holder Chepkoech blamed pneumonia for the poor performance revealing that the condition has been troubling her for some time.
“I said after the heats that I was struggling with pneumonia and that I was even lucky to have finished the race. I’m still not well and I’m still under medication. I hoped I would be better before the race but again I entered the field not a hundred percent.
“I really happy for Fait, and I hope she will remain focused in her career. I’m planning to advance maybe to 5000m and so she will be left to fill my void. I believe in her and maybe she could eventually give us the elusive Olympics title.”
The newly crowned champion Mutile said she did not anticipate breaking the championship record.
“I really did not plan for it (record). My target was to win gold but I thank God for the bonus. I did my calculations very knowing that Peruth was also good but I knew my strong kick would be my saviour and for sure it was.
“I picked many lessons during the Tokyo Olympics and largely I was inexperienced. Since then, I’ve won the World Championships title and I’ve perfected my skills in handling the barriers and also the finishing.”
Earlier on, Kenyans Timothy Cheruiyot and Brian Komen were dwarfed in the 1500m final as American Cole Hocker produced a devastating finish in the home straight to pull off an upset victory.
Tokyo Games silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot placed 11th with African Games champion Komen finishing bottom at 12th as Kenya’s ambitions to end a 16-year title drought over the distance were extinguished.
