EUGENE: Kenyan-born Norah Jeruto set a World Championships record en route to winning the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase gold for Kazakhstan while China’s Feng Bin outdid Olympic champion Valerie Allman with a massive personal best to claim the discus title on Wednesday.
While day five of action at Hayward Field featured only two finals, South African heavyweights Caster Semenya and Wayde van Niekerk were trackside along with 400m hurdles stars Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad in a series of high-calibre heats and semi-finals.
Jeruto, who switched allegiance from Kenya to Kazakhstan earlier this year, clocked the third fastest time in history and a championship record of 8min 53.02sec — more than five seconds better than previous winner Beatrice Chepkoech’s mark in Doha in 2019 —for the steeplechase victory in Eugene.
Werkuha Getachew set an Ethiopian record of 8:54.61 for silver, while her compatriot Mekides Abebe, made the most of a mistake by Kenyan-born Bahraini Winfred Mutile Yavi on the final water barrier, to snatch bronze (8:56.08).
“At the starting line, I was afraid of my friends from Ethiopia,” Jeruto said of her competitors. “They are also champions like me so I was scared of them. I tried my best to win the race and it was not easy.”
The discus was all but over after the first round as Feng threw 69.12m on her opening visit to the ring, improving by more than three metres her previous best of 66.00m set in Beijing in April.
Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic, a two-time Olympic champion and also twice a world gold medallist, claimed silver with 68.45m. American Allman took bronze with 68.30m. Reigning champion Yaime Perez ended in seventh place.
“I am so excited and I have to say all opponents did a very good job today,” said Feng, who finished 17th in Tokyo last year. “I did not expect this result coming to Eugene, I just wanted to show my best.”
Semenya’s first appearance in a world championships in five years saw the controversy-mired South African fail to qualify for the women’s 5000m finals.
In roasting mid-afternoon temperatures, the two-time Olympic gold medallist finished 13th in the first of two rounds in 15:46.12, more than 45sec off the 15th and final qualifying place.
“Cooking!” said Semenya, who was forced to switch from her favoured 800m (in which she is also a former three-time champion) to the longer event due to gender eligibility rules that required her to take testosterone-reducing drugs to compete in races between 400m to a mile post-race.
“It was hot, I could not keep up with the pace, I tried to stick as much as I can, but you know, it is a part of the game. I think it is great to be able to run here,” she added. “Just being able to finish the 5k, for me it is a blessing. I am learning and I am willing to learn even more.”
Her time was far off the heat-winning 14:52.64 set by Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, fresh from her silver in the 1500m.
Semenya’s team-mate Wayde van Niekerk qualified for the final of the men’s 400m after finishing second in his semi-final in 44.75sec.
Van Niekerk set the world record of 43.03sec when winning Olympic gold in Rio, but then sustained a nasty knee injury that saw him sit out track for three years.
“It is the challenge of doing this 400m and not having as many races in my legs as I would love to have by now,” he acknowledged. “But I made it through and I felt comfortable for the majority of the race. So it is about recovering now and getting ready for the final.
“It is a learning process in every race. I am listening to my body and executing that way. It has been a challenging three years and now, I just want to come out and do my best. I need to be back with every step I take to be able to challenge my record.”
US one-lap medal hope Michael Norman topped qualifying times for what should be an ultra-competitive final on Friday.
Elsewhere, record-holder McLaughlin and fellow American Muhammad set up a highly anticipated showdown in the women’s 400 metres hurdles final, after winning their respective heats.
“It’s going to be a great race, I know that for sure,” said McLaughlin.
In the women’s 400 metres, double Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo cruised to victory in her semi-final, while Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, who won silver in Tokyo, also qualified for the finals.
The United States’ relay hopes took a hit as 100 metres champion Fred Kerley pulled out of the 4x100 metres relay due to injury.
Kerley was diagnosed with a “slight injury to his quad” in the semi-finals of the 200m, from which he failed to advance.
Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2022