WU20: Peerless Cherotich sails to the 3000m Steeplechase final

World U20 Championships 3000m Steeplechase bronze medalist Faith Cherotich has made a huge statement of intent to upgrade the colour of her medal after advancing to the final at the Pascal Guerrero Olympic Stadium in Cali, Colombia.

Cherotich, send out a clear message of her intention to succeed her compatriot Jackline Chepkoech who has since transitioned to the senior category as she coasted to victory in heat two of the semi-finals, clocking 9:38.18.

The athletes had to overcome a nervy moment twice at the start line occasioned by a faulty start that delayed take off, pilling more anxiety on the youngsters who were ready to jostle for slots in the final.

The technical officers were forced to usher the athletes back to the warm up in a bid to buy time and fix the faulty gun that delayed the start for close to ten minutes.

No sooner had it went off than Cherotich surged forward, tagging a long with Mesereat Yeshaneh of Ethiopia who raced tactically behind hoping to beat her in the closing stages of the race but she was no match to the form three student.

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Earlier on, National Cross Country 5km champion for the Under-18 category Pamela Kosgei sailed to the final after finishing second in heat one that finished in favour of the peerless Sembo Almayew of Ethiopia.

Kosgei who took control of the race just two laps into the race appeared to ran conservatively in a bid to save energies for the final.

She however failed to take off with Almayew when she kicked in four minutes after the gun went off, instead opted to ran her race and would cross the line after 10:09.89.

Almayew clocked 9:52.65 while the 16-year old Liloice Chekwemoi of Uganda came in third in a personal best of 10:10.82.

Greta Varga and Marta Serrano of Hungary and Spain also booked slots in the final after finishing fourth and fifth respectively.