Chirchir completes a hatrick of victories
World leader Cornelius Chirchir (KEN) took his third victory of the season with a commanding performance in the men’s 1500m. Chirchir showed ever increased confidence by taking the lead with 300m to go and was never headed to cross the finish in 3:34.06. Laban Rotich (KEN) finished very strongly in 3rd (3:34.35) just behind Bernard Lagat, with Stephen Cherono (KEN) sharpening his speed in 5th (3:35.15) ahead of William Chirchir (KEN) in 7th in 3:35.51.
Sammy Kipketer (KEN) finished runner-up (13:07.78) in a tactical 5000m race behind an impressive last lap surge (52 secs) from Kenenisa Bekele (13:06.05). Albert Chepkurui followed in 6th position (13:12.55) ahead of Fabiano Joseph (TAN) (8th), Paul Bitok (KEN) (9th) and Boniface Kiprop (UGA) (11th).
World Championships 4th placer Faith Macharia (KEN) rediscovered her 2001 form with a season best time of 1:59.23 in the women’s 800m. A fantastic final 100m took her up to 3rd position behind Maria Mutola (MOZ) and Diane Cummins (CAN).
Article Tags: Cornelius Chirchir, Sammy Kipketer