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Obiri and Kigen have established world leaders in Rabat
Hellen Obiri on his pre-race promise to "try to run fast" while she slid on a 5000m lead from the world leader in 14: 21.75 at the meeting of the IAAF Diamond League in Rabat Friday night.
It was neither a meeting record nor a personal best for Obiri, but a great race nonetheless and the 13th fastest ever.
Behind her, the Dutchman Sifan Hbadan hung on when Obiri hit the front just after the bell and was rewarded with a European record of 14: 22.34, and a personal best of almost 20 seconds.
Benjamin Kigen, 3000m steeple-chase, is another Kenyan to have produced a global brand in Rabat.
Uniderald until recently and only in his second year on the international circuit, the 25-year-old soldier won at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene in a personal best 8: 09.07 and then improved to nearly three seconds here with his win in a time of 8: 06.19.
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A bad pace on the first two kilometers and a reluctance of the best riders to increase the tempo mean that the 2000m was crossed in 5: 26.06. Hopes of a time less than eight minutes – which had been widely discussed at the pre-race press conference – had virtually evaporated at this point.
However, just before the bell, local hero and world silver medalist Soufiane El Bakkali took the lead and the decibel count of the enthusiastic and loud Moroccan crowd took off from the counter while they were planning a second win in the night.
Naughty, despite a sudden change of pace, El Bakkali was still followed by the Ethiopians Chala Beyo and Kigen as he began his long push towards home. As soon as the two East Africans overtook the Maghreb man in the right back, this generated an audible whine from the partisan fans.
Once in the lead, Kigen then pushed back the right line to get rid of Beyo although he had the consolation of a personal best of 8: 07.27, at 1.11 of the Ethiopian record.
"I felt good throughout the race, from start to finish, and I think I could have run even faster because I felt very cool at the end," said Kigen, who is clearly an emerging star.
Surprisingly, one of the current stars of the steeple-chase, world and Olympic champion, Conseslus Kipruto, had a bad run and has never been in the race in the early stages. He finished 12th in 8: 27.36.
It is impossible to deny that Yomif Kejecha had a lot of attention after his antics in Lausanne, but he showed more clbad. [IAAF]
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