Kenyans shine at Doha meeting

The Kenyans put on a good show at the Ooredoo Doha Meeting, the opening match of the World Athletics Wanda Diamond League series, on Friday night.

Kenyan world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, competing with straps on the back of his legs, was beaten by his younger compatriot Asbel Kipsang in the men’s 1500m.

Breezy conditions meant fast times were out of the question, but also possibly resulted in a more competitive result.

Once the last of the pacers left the track, Kipsang led from Cheruiyot in the closing stages. At one point down the stretch, it looked like Cheruiyot would bounce back, but Kipsang dug in and held on for victory in 3:35.70. Cheruiyot was second in 3:36.16.

In other middle-distance events, young Kenyan Noah Kibet, a world indoor silver medalist, outshone an experienced, high-quality 800m field to beat Australian Peter Bol (1:49.35) in 1:49.08.

Kenyan Abraham Kibiwott led for most of the final kilometer with El Bakkali and Girma close behind. The Bakkali then hit the front on the final lap, but Ethiopian World and Olympic silver medalist Girma equalized with 200m to go.

However, the Moroccan had an advantage at the end and won by 0.01 in 8:09.66. Kibiwott was a little behind in third with 8:16.40.

The final in the women’s 3,000m, an intermediate meeting between Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon and Diamond League 5,000m champion Francine Niyonsaba, was equally exciting.

In a race without a pacemaker, Niyonsaba dictated the pace for most of the way, the Burundian topping 1,000m in 2:56.1.

5,000m world leader Girmawit Gebrzihair was briefly in the lead, as was Kipyegon, but Niyonsaba took the lead again with 600m to go. Kipyegon caught up with Niyonsaba again with half a lap to go, but Niyonsaba countered and kicked to win with a world-leading time of 8:37.70.

Kipyegon was second in 8:38.05 and Australia’s Jessica Hull was third in 8:40.97.

The date, Friday the 13th, proved somewhat unfortunate for the pole vaulters, whose event had to be canceled due to conditions and postponed until Saturday, when the competition was due to take place indoors.

But others seemed almost unaffected by the stiff breeze at the Qatar Sports Club, including Anderson Peters, who prevailed in a thrilling javelin contest with a sensational game-winning throw of 93.07m.

Returning to the city where he won the world title in 2019, the man from Granada made his intentions known from the start, opening his heat with a national record of 88.96m, and then following with 87.30m and 88.51m.

Olympic silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch then took the lead in the fourth round with a record 89.87m, but Peters countered in the next round with 90.19m, another Grenada record. Moments later, Vadlejch hit back with an almighty 90.88m effort.

Vadlejch was the first to throw in the final round and closed out his heat with an 85.50m effort. Peters then took to the track and launched his spear into the Doha night air.

Instead of stopping, as many high pitches tend to do, he simply continued to fly before piercing the ground farther than any other attempt tonight.

The distance, 300 feet, appeared on the scoreboard and Peters broke into an impromptu dance, celebrating the fact that he had become the fifth-greatest pitcher of all time, breaking the North, Central American and Caribbean record for the process.