Kiplimo sets new Personal Best

KAMPALA.

Owing to his inexperience, there was every reason to be worried for teenager Jacob Kiplimo when he mingled with bigwigs in the men’s 3000m race at the Doha Diamond League (DL) Meet on Friday.

But the 16-year-old silkily defied logic and finished seventh out of 17 runners with a new personal best (PB) of seven minutes and 43.73 seconds at the Qatar Sports Stadium.
On the chilly evening in the Middle East, Kiplimo faced a monster field against seasoned long-distance runners for the seven-and-a-half-lap race.

Of course, Kiplimo still has work to do to catch up if he is to ever mature from the lad who bagged first gold for Uganda in IAAF World Cross-country Championships history after winning the junior 8km race on March 26.

Clad in orange and blue kit, Kiplimo showed little signs of stage fright before every race finisher secured either a season best (SB) or PB.

With his affable face amiable as ever, Uganda’s latest unearthed talent started off well, taking eighth position after 1000m while seeking speed for the imminent London World Championships build-up races.

Then, Hungarian Tamas Kazi led as Kenyan Collins Cheboi and Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha closely followed.
Cheboi later fell out and Kiplimo ran solely in seventh as the field disintegrated into clusters.
2014 World Junior 5000m champion Kejelcha took over at half-way mark but he was briefly overtaken by Kenyan Caleb Ndiku as they approached the final 300m.

However, American Paul Chelimo passed the pair, only for Kenyan Ronald Kwemoi to blaze through and win in 7:28.73, a new World Lead (WL) time.

Chelimo, 5000m silver medalist at the Rio Olympics, took second place in 7:31.57, a new PB. Kejelcha came third with a SB of 7:32.27.

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