By Mitch Phillips
EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) -Ethiopian world record holder Letesenbet Gidey held off a twin Kenyan challenge and also finally overcame her nemesis Sifan Hassan in a terrific finish to win the women’s 10,000 metres gold at the World Championships on Saturday.
Gidey had been towards the front for the majority of the race but forged clear on the final lap.
Hellen Obiri and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi looked as if they might overhaul her in the final 30 metres but Gidey, glancing desperately to her right as Obiri closed, held on to win in 30:09.94 – the fastest time of the year.
Obiri took silver in 30:10.02 with Kipkemboi third in 30:10.07 – both personal best times – in cool conditions perfect for distance running.
Olympic and defending world champion Hassan of the Netherlands, who has barely been seen on the track this year as she took time off to recover from her stupendous but draining 2021, ran out of gas in the final straight to finish fourth.
“The dream came true, this victory is even more important to me than a world record,” Gidey said. “I was thinking about winning this gold since 2019 but Hassan was always there. I was also watching Obiri. This time, I was really watching them and I knew I had to be very fast in the last 300m.”
Hassan’s fallow year and the absence of several other leading contenders meant this race was one of the most difficult of the Eugene programme to predict.
In perfect conditions for distance running, the field remained largely in one bunch, with an Ethiopian trio setting the pace and Hassan taking her usual approach of sitting towards the back
Britain’s Eilish McColgan, whose mother Liz won the title 1991 and who came in with the second-fastest time of the year, set much of the early pace but drifted once the Africans upped the ante in the latter stages.
Gidey had been easily out-kicked by Hassan as she finished third last year’s Olympic final and also when taking silver in the 2019 worlds and tried to stretch it out from the bell, opening some daylight and dropping compatriot Ejgayehu Taye.
The Kenyan pair remained in range and double world 5,000 champion Obiri, who said last year she was retiring from the track to focus on road running, looked to be closing the gap.
Gidey evidently thought so too as she covered the last 25 metres almost entirely with her head turned to the right in desperate fear that she would be overhauled.
She had enough though to hold on and go one better than in 2019 when she also lost out to Hassan and make it eight wins from the last 12 world 10,000 finals for Ethiopia.
“I have the next dream now – to win the gold at 5000m,” Gidey said. “With the God’s help, I can get the double, I am very confident now.”
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)
