Chepkoech bags Kenya’s first medal at World Indoor Championship

Steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech won Kenya her first medal at the ongoing World Indoor Championship in Glasgow, Scotland after coming third to bag bronze in the women’s 3000m race on Saturday night.

Chepkoech,, who smashed the 3,000m steeplechase world record in 2018 at the Diamond League in Monaco ran in a time of 8:22.68 to set a new national and personal best record in the track event.

The Kenyan had earlier on taken the race off at a brisk pace and led through the 800m mark before Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay took charge upfront alongside Australian Jessica Hull.

The race was won by American Elle St Pierre who out-sprinted her opponents to set a North American and championship record of 8:20.87.

A performance that took almost five seconds off her personal best saw her step up to the top of the podium having won silver in this event two years earlier in Belgrade.

St Pierre who gave birth to a son almost exactly a year ago on 4 March 2023, tailgated the lead group of four for most of the race before making her move on the final bend as she came past the leader on the outside and held her form to the line.

St Pierre’s win bucked the trend of this event at the World Indoor Championships, in which nine of the past 10 gold medals had gone to Ethiopia.

Tsegay, the world 5000m record-holder, came within a whisker of the world indoor 3000m record with 8:17.11 in Lievin on 10 February, but here she had to settle for silver in 8:21.13.

Australia’s Hull just missed out on a medal as she clocked an Oceanian record of 8:24.39.

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Britain’s Laura Muir, who won European indoor 1500m and 3000m titles in this Glasgow Arena in 2019, sought throughout to keep in touch with the lead group but in the end, had to settle for fifth place in a season’s best of 8:29.76.

On Friday, Kenya missed out narrowly on a podium finish after Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala finished in fourth place in the 60m dash final won by America’s Chris Coleman.

The medal will act as a morale booster for Chepkoech as she prepares for activities laden season in the indoor races.

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World Indoor Championship 3000m Women Results

1 Elle S tPierre 8:20.87

2 Gudaf Tsegay 8:21.13

3 Beatrice Chepkoech 8:22.68

4 Jessica Hull 8:24.39

5 Laura Muir 8:29.76

Additional reporting World Athletics