Yavi Completes Golden Hat-Trick

TDT | Manama

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Bahrain star adds 5,000m crown as athletics campaign enters final day

Winfred Yavi completed a golden hat-trick at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya yesterday, adding the women’s 5,000 metres title to her remarkable haul at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.

A day after retaining her 3,000m steeplechase crown in record-breaking fashion, the reigning Olympic champion returned to the track and crossed the line in 15 minutes 10.18 seconds to claim her third gold medal of the Games.  

Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka took silver in 15:11.65, with India’s Parul Chaudhary completing the podium in 15:14.61. Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet, the kingdom’s other representative in the 12-runner final, finished ninth in 16:09.10.  

The race remained open deep into the contest, with Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto Tanui leading at the 1,000m and 2,000m marks before Yavi moved to the front at 3,000m. Tanui was back ahead at 4,000m, but Yavi had the final say to beat Tanaka by 1.47 seconds.  

The triumph capped a superb individual campaign for the 26-year-old, who had already won the 10,000m last Thursday before completing a third successive Asian Games steeplechase title on Sunday.

Her latest success also lifted Bahrain’s overall haul to 14 medals, including nine gold, two silver and three bronze.

Korir Through

There was further progress for the Bahrainis as Nelly Korir booked her place in today’s women’s 800m final.

Korir clocked 2:02.92 to finish second in the opening heat, just 0.11 seconds behind Japan’s Ayano Shiomi. China’s Wu Hongjiao was third in 2:03.37, with the first three advancing automatically.  

The second heat was won by the Philippines’ Victoria Bossong in 2:02.34, ahead of China’s Li Chunhui and Uzbekistan’s Sabokhat Samijonova, while Japan’s Rin Kubo and India’s Pooja advanced as the two fastest remaining runners.  

Korir, whose personal best of 1:57.69 is the quickest among the eight finalists, will run from lane five at 7.50am Bahrain time.

There was disappointment in the women’s 4x100m relay final, however, as the quartet of Hajar Alkhaldi, Edidiong Odiong, Raihanah Garoubah and Salwa Naser failed to finish.  

China claimed gold in 42.96s, followed by Thailand in a season-best 43.51s and hosts Japan in 43.52s.  

Final Push

Bahrain will have several more opportunities to add to their haul today as the athletics programme concludes.

After the 800m final, Birhanu Balew and Abdikani Hamid will line up in the men’s 5,000m at 2.15pm. Balew enters as the reigning Asian Games champion and Games record holder, while Hamid joins him in the 19-runner field.

The kingdom will then contest the mixed 4x100m relay final at 2.48pm before lining up in the women’s 4x400m relay final at 3.05pm.

Those events will bring Bahrain’s athletics campaign in Aichi-Nagoya to a close.