WU20: 2-3 in 1500m as Kenya misses podium in 800m, 5000m and 3000m/sc

Kenya failed to defend the women's 1500m as the World Under-20 Athletics Championship came to a close in Cali Colombia as Ethiopia's Birke Haylom broke the championship record. 

Kenyan duo of Brenda Chebet and Purity Chepkirui picked silver and bronze in personal best times of 4:04.64 and 4:07.64 respectively. 

Chebet trusted her ability from the get go and shot ahead immediately after the gun went and flew to a world record pace in the first lap of the race and the 2021 champion Chepkirui tagged along and the Ethiopian duo of Haylom and Mebriht Mekonen remained tacked behind the Kenyan duo. 

Although they would slow down significantly in the next two laps, the pace was still good enough to break the championship record. 

WU20: Silver and bronze for Kiptarus, Kimosong in men's 3000m

Chebet held the lead for 1300m with Chepkirui dropping to fourth place in the penultimate lap only to come back on the shoulder of Mekonen at the bell. 

The Kenyan who had done all the pacing, Chebet, looked good until Hahlom struck at the final bend with a killer kick on the homestretch to beat Chebet with less than 50m to go and hold on for victory. 

Meawhile, Kenya missed on the men's 800m podium and last year's bronze medalist Noah Kibet settled for seventh place in a poorly timed race.

Kibet started well, staying with the leading group to take the bell in the middle of the pack and had to run on the outside lane to go to the leader's shoulder with 200m to the line. 

The World indoor championships silver medalist who bowed out at the semis in Oregon was a spent cartridge at the home straight and finished second last in seventh place as Ermias Girma won in 1:47.36. 

Meanwhile, the wait for a women's 5000m medal since Beatrice Chebet won in Tampere in 2018 continued. 

Kenyan duo of Maureen Cherotich and Jane Ghati went out in ridiculous pace, tackling the first kilometre ahead in under three minutes only to burnout mid-race and fade embarrassingly. 

Ethiopia’s Medina Eisa led Melknat Wudu to a 1-2 as was the case last year. Wudu maintained her medal from Nairobi last year as Uganda's Priscah Chesang settled for a back-to-back bronze. 

It was heartbreak all over again for Kenya as Ethiopia dominated yet another race on the final day for a 1-2 jn the men's 3000m steeplechase.

Emmanuel Wafula and Haron Kibet had their work cut out but looked good in the initial stages of the race only to fade for sixth and tenth respectively.

The duo headlined a group that was chasing down early leader, Japan's Asahi Kuroda who shot right ahead in the first lap and created a sizeable gap with the chasing group.

Samuel Duguna and Samuel Firewu took charge with about 800m left, Wafula hanging on for dear life in third place but he had nothing left to challenge for a medal as the Ethiopian duo bagged gold and silver while Moroccan Salaheddine Ben Yazide settled for bronze.