Belgrade 2022: Kenya miss out on 3000m men podium as Ethiopia dominate

Daniel Simiu and Jacob Krop failed to win the medal for Kenya in 3000m finals for men in the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade on Sunday afternoon.

They finished just behind Ethiopia duo Selemon Barega and Lamecha Girma with UK’s Marc Scott, who produced his season’s best to speed past Simiu to finish 3rf at 7:42.02.

Simiu settled for 4th place(7:42:97) as Krop (7:43:24) claimed fifth. As expected, Selemon Barega won the gold as he clocked at 7:41:38, ahead of his countrymen Lamecha Girma (7:41:36).

In an interesting and in fact, a very tight race, the Kenyan duo, was among the top five from the very beginning, and in the first 10 laps, the leaders were Girma, or Moroccan Talbi or Krop, while Barega was behind. Four laps before the end, it was only Kenyans and Ethiopians at the first four positions and when the final lap started, Krop was out of the running, and Simiu looked destined for the bronze. But, all of a sudden, Scott appeared with a blazing finishing speed and good tactics, blocked Krop from the outside, and ran over Simiu in the last 60 meters for third place.

At one point, Simiu was looking over his shoulder for Girma and eventually let him pass, and the reason was simple, Ethiopia’s athlete was trying to trip him.

“He was knocking me, so I was about to fall down. I tried to stop him, but that’s how it was. The race was good, I finished fourth, I got through the heats, and ran in the finals. I congratulate Barega for the win. Maybe we will win next time” said Simiu for Mozzart Kenya.

Other Kenyan athlete Jacob Krop also had a good race, even went as first a couple of laps but lost the pace in the last lap. It was Krop who had the nasty fall in the previous race but managed to recover well enough and give Ethiopians a run for their money.

“The race was tight. I was not feeling well because of the fall in the semis and felt pain” said Krop just after the race.

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