World U18: Uganda's Chelimo, Kwemoi through to 3000m final
Jul 13, 2017
Chelimo and Kwemoi qualify for the 3000m final in Nairobi.
Titus Kwemoi kept up to finish with a qualifying time on Thursday. (Credit: Johnson Were)
IAAF WORLD U18 CHAMPIONSHIPS
NAIROBI - Uganda's Oscar Chelimo and Titus Given Kwemoi on Thursday qualified for the men's 3000m final in the ongoing IAAF World U18 Championships in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Chelimo finished third in heat one with a personal best time of 8:08:09 minutes.
Kwemoi, who ran in heat two, did not beat his personal best but finished fourth with a time of 8:37:67 minutes to qualify automatically.
The final of this race will take place on Sunday at 4.25pm local time on the newly-laid track of the Kasarani Stadium, which is officially called Moi International Sports Centre.
Fifteen athletics will take part in the final: The top five from each heat plus another five that posted the best times.
The global athletics event kicked off Wednesday and will end on Sunday.
Hosts Kenya have kept their traditional athletics rivalry with neighbours Ethiopia going. It showed in this particular race.
Ethiopia's Selemon Barega won heat one with a blistering personal best of 7:55:73, beating Kenya's Stanley Mburu Waithaka who came in second (7:59:54). Chelimo crossed the line some nine seconds later to take third place.
Then came heat two. The two rival nations switched places. This time, Kenya's Edward Zakayo came in first with a time of 8:04.85, beating Ethiopia's Milkesa Mengesha (8:05.87 - personal best) and Bereket Michael of Eritrea (8:24.54).
Uganda's Kwemoi galloped in to take fourth spot.
Chelimo and Kwemoi took part in the U20 (men's junior) race in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala in March this year.
Bar disappointing exits for the likes of Eric Leyang and Manuel Goni who were disqualified in the 400m race on day one, Uganda is still in it.
Hosea Kiplangat and Daniel Kiprop made it through to the 1500m final which is due on Friday.
Later on Wednesday, Joshua Kibet did manage to qualify for the semi-final of the 800m race.
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