Ugandan women fail Olympic 10,000m test in Paris

The Ugandan duo of Sarah Chelangat and Annet Chemengich Chelangat could not match the pace of the front runners as the Women's 10000m final ended at the Stade de France on Friday night.

Competing in their first Olympic games the Ugandans could only keep up with the pace of the race in the first ten laps but slowly weathered out to finish 12th and 21st respectively.

The Ugandans started strong keeping themselves in the middle of the pack of the 25 finalists for the opening ten laps but during the 11th Chemengich slowed down dropping to fourth last as the race gathered momentum.

Kenyan Beatrice Chebet (front-right) beats Italian Italian Nadia Battocletti to the finish line during the Women's 10,000m race at the Stade de France. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

On her part, Sarah Chelangat remained strong and kept within touching distance with the front seven until four laps to go when she also burnt out as her Kenyan and Ethiopian opponents increased the pace as they went for the kill.

With two laps to go, she also gave up leaving the fight to Kenyan Beatrice Chebet and Italian Nadia Battocletti who eventually won gold and silver in 30:43.25 and 30:43.35 respectively.

Triple Olympic medalist (Tokyo 2020 Olympics) Netherlands’ Sifa settled for bronze after coming from behind the pack like she traditionally does.