Faith Cherotich beats Olympic gold medalist Winfred Yavi in Women’s 3000m Steeplechase

DOHA, Qatar, May 17 – The 20‐ year-old Olympics bronze medalist clocked a world lead of 9:05.08 to cross the finish line ahead of the Olympic champion Yavi who timed a season’s best of 9:05.26 in second place at Diamond League in Doha, Qatar.

Cherotich crowned a blissful outing for Kenya with a lung-bursting run in the last 50 metres to win the women’s 3000m steeplechase edging out Kenyan-born Bahraini Winfred Yavi.

Ethiopia’s Sembo Alemayew clocked a season’s best of 9:09.27 to take third place.

Speaking after the win, Cherotich said the performance was a surprise to her. “First of all, I am very surprised by this result and I did not expect to win today”.

“I wanted to make sure that I secure this place and it worked well in the finish line it was not an easy run because all uf us were here to win It felt almost like Olympic final,” the world bronze medalist said.

The 2022 World Under 20 champion is fast establishing herself as one of the top female athletes on the globe.

Friday’s victory at the third leg of this year’s prestigious competition was her second successive Diamond League triumph following victory at last September’s final leg in Brussels, Belgium.