Ethiopia’s Yigrem Demelash brought the Kenyan dominance at the event to a halt today to grab the gold medal in style in a career best of 28:16.07.
The Kenyan pair of Geoffrey Kipkorir Kirui and Philemon Kipchilis Cheboi had been hotly tipped as the main favourites but Demelash proved to be a master tactician and his arch-rivals Kenyans had to settle for the minor places on the podium on this occasion.
The race opened quite conservatively as the lonesome early leader China’s Binlu Wang went through the opening 1000m in 2:55.54 and a full 10-second margin over the rest of the 34 competitors. The Kenyan pair injected a lethal pace some 1500m into the race and only the Ethiopian duo and Uganda’s Moses Martin Kurong were able to live with their pace.
Kirui, who holds an impressive 26:55.73 to rank second on the all-time Junior lists, opened full gas after the second kilometre and an impressive 8:15 split for the following three kilometres led him lonesome at the front. Even before the halfway, Kirui began to lap the slowest contenders.
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