World Champs Women’s 10K — Chebet Starts Double-Double Bid

In a quest to match her 2-golds Paris Olympics performance, Beatrice Chebet checked box No. 1 with a hammer-drop kick. (KEVIN MORRIS)

IT CAN BE SAID AGAIN, now with even more conviction: Beatrice Chebet has become nearly unbeatable in her specialties since her emergence to take the 10,000 WR at last year’s Pre Classic. She can obviously maintain a WR tempo in an evenly paced race and no one can quite match the Kenyan’s top-end speed.

To leverage their chances against the Olympic 5K/10K champ — as Chebet began her bid to duplicate that double — Ethiopian rival and defending champion Gudaf Tsegay and Paris 10K silver medalist Nadia Battocletti each had cards to play: Tsegay, her 1500m superiority (she owns a 3:50.30 PR to Chebet’s 3:54.73); the Italian, her sprint speed, seemingly nearly the favorite’s equal.

Temps and humidity in the 80s nixed a super fast pace. So the field lumbered through laps of 76.09 and 2:34.21 before host-nation favorite, Ririka Hironaka injected some honesty. She took the field through kilos 1 2 & 3 at 3:10.93, 6:14.04 and 9:19.91.

Then Chebet’s teammate Agnes Ngetich decided to separate the contenders from the pretenders and accelerated to a 70.53 (12:22.38 4K). Then, to the surprise of many, Chebet rocketed through a 67.61 lap (between 4300 and 4700). The lead pack dropped to 10, then to six with the surge that extended through 5K (15:16:33 after a 2:53.79).

That tempo was unsustainable, so they turned off the rocket boosters for most of the 6-through-9K stretch, allowing even a few 80-plus-second laps. Taye led, then Ngetich drifted back up. Battocletti refused to take the tempo, while Chebet lay back.

Tsegay, meanwhile, brought up the rear of the pack, plotting and measuring when to make her move. At 8900, she did so, hoping desperately that a long kick might be the answer. Chebet responded immediately, Battocletti and Ngetich hung in and Taye fell off the back.

But Tsegay’s laps of 64.12 and 67.25 shook no one. She hit 29:37.36 with a lap to go. Exactly when would Chebet strike and would anyone have a response?

The answer was precisely with 200 left. Battocletti surged with Chebet, just as she did with her near-miss in Paris. This time, Chebet never let her get that close. With her final 60.09, 27.21 splits, the 25-year-old won her first World final in 30:37.61. Battocletti (60.44, 27.71) broke the Italian record with 30:38.23 and Tsegay had to settle for bronze at 30:39.65.

“It means a lot because I came even to realize [the last time Kenya won the women’s 10K] was 2015. Now being after many years winning again the title. I’m so happy,” Chebet said recalling the last previous Kenyan gold claimed by Vivian Cheruiyot a decade ago. Looking also to the future, she added, “I know as time comes… we are going to dominate and we hope for good results for the coming athletes.”

Meanwhile, Battocletti is the first 10K World medalist born outside of Africa since Emily Infeld won bronze in ’15. Infeld, this year’s USA champ was 15th here, finishing between teammates Elise Cranny (13th) and Taylor Roe (19th).

WOMEN’S 10,000 RESULTS

(September 13)

1. Beatrice Chebet (Ken) 30:37.61

(13.46, 27.21, 60.09, 2:07.41, 4:32.98) (15:16.33/15:21.28);

2. Nadia Battocletti (Ita) 30:38.23 NR

(13.93, 27.71, 60.44, 2:07.53, 4:33.71) (15:17.13/15:21.10);

3. Gudaf Tsegay (Eth) 30:39.65

(14.52, 29.36, 62.29, 2:09.50, 4:34.72) (15:16.75/15:22.90);

4. Agnes Ngetich (Ken) 30:42.66

(17.00, 32.23, 65.01, 2:12.11, 4:38.23)

(15:16.52/15:26.14);

5. Ejgayehu Taye (Eth) 30:55.52

(16.39, 33.90, 70.19, 2:21.79, 4:50.75)

(15:17.27/15:38.25);

6. Ririka Hironaka (Jpn) 31:09.62

(15:34.59/15:35.03);

7. Joy Cheptoyek (Uga) 31:15.03

(15:24.04/15:50.99);

8. Fotyen Tesfay (Eth) 31:21.67

(15:16.92/16:04.75);

9. Lauren Ryan (Aus) 31:27.78; 10. Megan Keith (GB) 31:33.85; 11. Calli Hauger-Thackery (GB) 31:37.81; 12. Elise Cranny (US) 31:40.07 (15:32.91/16:07.16); 13. Jana Van Lent (Bel) 31:44.05; 14. Emily Infeld (US) 31:47.65 (15:42.93/16:04.72); 15. Klara Lukan (Slo) 31:49.76; 16. Daisy Jepkemei (Kaz) 31:49.87; 17. Isobel Batt-Doyle (Aus) 31:53.41; 18. Taylor Roe (US) 32:12.19 (15:38.41/16:33.78); 19. Elisa Palmero (Ita) 32:12.72; 20. Mikuni Yada (Jpn) 32:28.94; 21. Tsige Gebreselama (Eth) 32:33.73; 22. Francine Niyomukunzi (Bur) 32:52.59; 23. Eva Dieterich (Ger) 33:46.76; 24. Nubia Silva (Bra) 36:00.21;… dnf— Rebecca Chelangat (Uga), Sarah Chelangat (Uga), Janeth Chepngetich (Ken), .

(leader kilos: Hironoka 3:10.93, 6:14.04, 9:19.91; Ngetich 12:22.38; Chebet 15:16.33, 18:18.74; Taye 21:28.24; Ngetich 24:46.82; Tsegay 27:58.92)

Post navigation