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Ruiter keeps trust in young guns
Part of the young athletes who represented Uganda at the Africa Youth Athletics Championships. PHOTO/GEORGE KATONGOLE
What you need to know:
The other long-distance running trio of Keneth Kiprop, Dan Kibet and Rogers Kibet finished sixth, eighth and 15th respectively over the 5000m race.
Coach Addy Ruiter still expects many improvements from his bunch of young elite runners even if not all went perfect at the Oordegem Meeting in Belgium at the weekend.
Notwithstanding adjustments to the program, only middle-distance runner Janat Chemusto stood out as she won the 800m race with a personal best (PB) of two minutes and 97 micro-seconds on Sunday.
It wasn’t a clinical victory though. “Janat made a few mistakes but that was also the reason why she was running this 800m,” Ruiter said of the 1500m runner. “This was the first time in her career to run a track race in Europe.”
“It was a very slow start and running too fast after that to the front. But still, winning the race in a PB, she learnt a lot in this race,” the Dutchman stated.
The other long-distance running trio of Keneth Kiprop, Dan Kibet and Rogers Kibet finished sixth, eighth and 15th respectively over the 5000m race.
With the pacemaker dropping out after 800m, Dan took the lead but he was below the pace for a qualifying time of 13:07.00 to the Budapest World Championships.
Eventually, the Africa U20 5000m champion Dan finished with a time of 13:16.31 and Kiprop came through in the final 200m, two places ahead of him in 13:15.90.
Dan however finished with a PB at Putbosstadion but Rogers struggled with a bout of flu, settling for a time of 13:23.21.
Meanwhile, Winnie Nanyondo could not believe taking 10th place in a time of 4:08.43 over the 1500m during the Rabat Diamond League in Morocco despite all the hard work.
“It was a bad day in the office. I am a little bit disappointed,” she said. The race belonged to Gudaf Tsegay who not only an Ethiopian 1-2-3-4 but also sealed the victory with a Meeting Record time of 3:54.03.
OORDEGEM MEETING
WOMEN’S 800M
1 Janat Chemusto (UGA) 2:00.97
2 Camille Laus (FRA) 2:01.99
3 Anais Bourgoin (FRA) 2:02.25
MEN’S 5000M
1 Mohamed Ismail (DJI) 13:11.13
2 Yann Schrub (FRA) 13:11.44
3 Henrik Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 13:13.99
6 Keneth Kiprop (UGA) 13:15.90
8 Dan Kibet (UGA) 13:16.31
15 Rogers Kibet (UGA) 13:23.21
RABAT DIAMOND LEAGUE
WOMEN’S 1500M RESULT
1 Gudaf Tsegay (ETH) 3:54.03
2 Freweyni Hailu (ETH) 3:57.65
3 Birke Haylom (ETH) 3:57.66
4 Worknesh Mesele (ETH) 4:01.81
10 Winnie Nanyondo (UGA) 4:08.43
