The 18th World Athletics Championships ended on Sunday at Hayward Field in Oregon, United States, placing Kenya fourth in the medal rankings.
Jacob Krop took silver in the men’s 10,000m, while Mary Moraa improved from bronze in the women’s 800m on the final day as Kenya earned 10 medals: two gold, five silver, and three bronze.
The United States of America won 33 medals, including 13 gold, nine silver, and 11 bronze, followed by Ethiopia, which won 10 medals; four gold, four silver, and two silver.
Jamaica finished third with 10 medals; two gold, seven silver, and one bronze.
Kenya lost all five of its championships from the previous World Athletics Championships in Doha, including the women’s marathon, men’s and women’s 3,000m steeplechase, women’s 5,000m, and men’s 1,500m, but reclaimed the women’s 1,500m and men’s 800m.
Faith Chepng’etich (1,500m) and Emmanuel Korir (800m) won gold medals for Kenya in their respective events.
Silver medals were won by Beatrice Chebet (5,000m), Hellen Obiri (10,000m), Judith Jeptum (marathon), Stanley Waithaka (10,000m), and Jacob Krop (5,000m).
Bronze medalists were Margaret Chelimo (10,000m), Mary Moraa (800m), and Conseslus Kipruto (3,000m).
Kenya’s performance has not been less than four gold medals since the 2005 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, where the country won seven medals (one gold, two silver, and four bronze) to place tenth in the medal count.
That was also the last time Kenya won the men’s 5,000m through Benjamin Limo. Kenya’s life has been a roller coaster since then until Oregon occurred.
The country finished second in the medal rankings with 17 medals, including seven gold, eight silver, and three bronze, at the 2011 Daegu World Athletics Championships in South Korea.
However, while Kenya won the most medals in Daegu, it was in the 2015 Beijing World Athletics Championships that the country created history by becoming the first African country to top the medal standings for the first time.
Kenya won 16 medals, including seven gold, six silver, and three bronze, with Julius Yego being the only African to win a global javelin throw championship since South Africa’s Marius Corbett in Athens in 1997.
The late Nicholas Bett was also the first Kenyan and, aside from Zambian Samuel Matete (1991 Tokyo), the only other African to win the 400m hurdles at the same tournament.
Kenya would finish second in both the 2017 London and 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships, collecting a total of five gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.
Athletics Kenya is going back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong amid the country’s many doping accusations.
Lawrence Cherono, the 2019 Boston and Chicago Marathon champion was barred from running on the day of the men’s marathon due to a failed drug test, leaving Geoffrey Kamwowor, who was making a comeback after surviving a traffic accident, and Barnabas Kiptum to finish fifth and 15th, respectively.
Amos Serem, the World Under-20 3,000m steeplechase champion, won the national trials, but World Athletics anti-doping standards barred him from competing, as did the women’s 5,000m trials winner Selah Jepleting, for the same reason.
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Conseslus Kipruto, the defending champion, could only manage bronze in the steeplechase, while Beatrice Chebet, the 2018 World Under-20 5,000m winner, won silver in the women’s 5,000m.
All is not lost, as a new crop of promising athletes, including Chebet and Krop, has begun their reign in earnest, alongside Moraa, who won the coveted bronze.
