Norah Jeruto added her name to the record breakers at this year’s World Athletics Championships by winning the gold in the 3000m steeplechase in record time.
The former Kenyan now representing Kazakhstan at the games finished the race in eight minutes and 53.02 seconds, the third-fastest time ever and more than five seconds better than the previous mark of Beatrice Chepkoech set in Doha in 2019.
Werkuha Getachew set a national record for Ethiopia to win the silver while her compatriot Mekides Abebe took the bronze.
Joining Norah Jeruto in winning golds was China’s Feng Bin who surprised everyone by getting the better of Olympic champion Valerie Allman in the discus throw final.
Feng who finished 17th in the Olympics secured a personal best of 69.12-meters in the opener which proved to be enough for the gold ahead of Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic and American Allman who finished with bronze. The Reigning champion Yaime Perez ended the event seventh in the standings.
Earlier in the day, record-holder Sydney McLaughlin of America and her fellow compatriot Dalilah Muhammad set up a showdown in the women’s 400 meters hurdles final after winning their respective heats.
In the women’s 400m, double Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo cruised to victory in her semi-final, while Tokyo silver medalist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic also reached the last stage.
The Men’s 400m final is shaping up as monumental with Americans Champion Allison and Michael Norman joined by world record-holder and twice world champion Wayde van Niekerk in the final.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Caster Semenya, competing in the women’s 5,000 meters heats after being barred from competing in any race from 400 meters to a mile, failed to qualify for the finals after clocking a time of 15:46.12.
Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion in 800 meters, cannot compete in her preferred distance because of a World Athletics ruling saying women with high natural testosterone levels must take medication to reduce them which the South African refuses to do.
