Cherop, Sang secure Kenya first medals in Youth Commonwealth Games

Kenya won its first medals in the Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad and Tobago after Nancy Cherop and Josephat Sang claimed the gold in the women’s and men’s 1500m races on Day Five of the championships held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

The performances by the two followed the middle distance team’s success in the heats, where Kenya dominated, before claiming the finals 1-2 sweeps.

Cherop, followed by her teammate Janet Chepkoech on the last lap of the women's 1500m, stepped on the gas, leaving the rest behind to finish first in a time of 4:12.38.

The time was also recorded as the new Commonwealth Youth Games Record, eclipsing the previous record held by Scotland’s Erin Wallace, who clocked 4:16.61 in July 2017.

Chepkoech, in second, timed 4:14.24 to win silver, as England’s Lyla Belshaw came in third with a time of 4:16.37.

In the men’s race, it was a similar script as Sang clocked 3:37:66 to break the Commonwealth Youth games record - previously held by Kumari Taki, as Andrew Kiptoo came in second in a personal best time of 3:38:12.

The duo are also set to compete in the 800m heats as well as the 4x400 mixed relay.

In para discus Titus Maundu in class T63, bagged silver in a closely contested affair as he threw a distance of 29m, with his compatriot Nicholas Kalonzo coming in fourth with a throw of 23.33m.

Kenya beach volleyball duo through to Commonwealth Youth Games semis

Elsewhere, the Cub Lionesses went 22-10 down to Fiji in the bronze medal matchup to finish fourth. Before that, they played against Canada, a match the girls also lost 17-0, marking the end of their campaign at the games.

Triathlon meanwhile finished their campaign in the super sprint mixed, where Abdul Bagha and Iman Kaiza finished 19th with a time of 52:45.