Kirwa is now first Arab runner to win Marathon

Manama

With her astounding performance that brought the maiden medal for Bahrain in the World Athletics Championships, Kirwa became the first Arab runner to win in the World Forum marathon for Women. Around 23 athletes had represented the Kingdom in the World Athletics Championships, which is a record.

 Commenting on her winning the bronze medal, Supreme Council for Youth and Sport (SCYS) First Deputy Chairman, West Asian Athletics Association (WAAA) President and head of Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa remarked: "We have stressed before participating in the World Athletics Championships that our ultimate goal is to focus on the Rio 2016 Olympics and the World Championships of Athletics has given an impetus  to prepare for  Olympics.’’  

 He said the success would further bolster Bahrain's standing on the map of world sport.

 Earlier, the race had a nail-biting finish. Around the 30km mark Kirwa was placed sixth with defending champion Edna Kiplagat of Kenya leading as around a dozen runners were

battling it out for the podium positions.

The Japanese runner Ito again took to the front on 35 and 40km but it soon turned into a race featuring five runners, three from Kenya's
(Jemima Jeligat Sumgong, Kiprop and Kiplagat), Ethiopia's Dibaba and Bahrain's Kirwa.

As the frontrunners approached the Bird’s Nest (as the stadium is known), Kiplagat dropped out of contention and it was down to four, soon Kirwa was in third place entering the stadium tunnel and the 31-year old battled all the way to clinch an historic bronze with just four seconds separating the top three runners.

Dibaba lived up to her billing as the world's fastest marathon runner by winning in a sprint finish on Sunday just a second ahead of Kiprop
in the final 50 metres. Sumgong (2:27.42) was fourth and Kiplagat (2:28.18) fifth.

After the race Dibaba said, "I was confident because my last lap is fast and it all came down to a sprint in the stadium." Bahrain's other marathon runners were Lishan Dula (2:38.18) who
finished 25th and Aster Tesfaye (2:46.54) 42nd.
In other final day action, Bahrain's Mimi Belete (15:17.01) finished 11th out of 15 in the women's 5,000 metres final which was won by
Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia, 14:26.83) for the gold followed by Senbere Teferi (Ethiopia, 14:44.07) and Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia, 14:44.14)
for the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Bahrain's other participants in the championship have been (Men's): Shumi Dechasa, Aadan Ismael Khamis, Ali Hassan Mahboob (Marathon),
Nelson Kipkosgei Cherutich, John Kibet Koech (3,000 metres steeplechase), Abraham Kupchirchir Rotich (800 metres), El Hassan Elabbassi (10,000 metres), Aweke Ayalew (10,000/5,000 metres), Albert Kibichii Rop (5,000 metres), Benson Kipligat Seurei (1,500 metres) and
Abbas Abubakar Abbas (400 metres), (women): Oluwakemi Adekoya (400 metres hurdles) and Ruth Jebet (3,000 metres steeplechase).