Joshua Cheptegei fails to add world 3000m record to his kitty

OSTRAVA: Joshua Cheptegei, the world champion in 10,000 metres, failed to break long-standing men's 3000m world record in the Continental Tour Gold meeting here on Wednesday night.

The 24-year-old talented runner clocked 7 minutes 33.24 seconds, a personal best and a world leading time for the 3000m race, but was nearly 13 seconds short of Kenyan Daniel Komen's time of 7 minutes 20. 67 seconds set in 1996.

After an outstanding 2020 season, during which he broke world 5,000m and 10,000m records, Cheptegei was aiming to add 3000m record to his kitty this season.

He was on a world record pace in the first half of the race covering the first 1600m in 3 minutes 55 seconds but slowed down as the race progressed.

In August 2020, Cheptengei clocked 12 minutes 35.26 seconds to erase the previous world record of 12 minutes 37.35 seconds in 5,000m, and later in October, he clocked 26 minutes 11.00 seconds to improve the previous 10,000m world record by six seconds.

Last month, Cheptengei clocked an impressive 3 minutes 37.36 seconds for the 1,500m race in Kampala's high altitude.

The European outdoor season in Ostrava turned out to be a good platform for several top athletes ahead of Sunday's Diamond League in Gateshead, England.

Performance of teenage middle-distance runner Max Burgin from England in men's 800m was one of the highlights of the competition. He clocked 1 minute 44.14 seconds which was the world leading time in the men's 800m. His performance on Wednesday was also better than the Olympic qualifying mark of 1 minute 45.20 seconds. IANS

Also Read: Joshua Cheptegei primed to break 3,000m world mark