Great report by letsrun.com - THX!
The 2009 World Championships men's steeplechase will certainly be remembered as one of the most intriguing steeple finals in a long while. Kenya's Ezekiel Kemboi (right) won the gold while teammate Richard Mateelong took the silver and Frenchman Bouabdellah Tahri struck bronze to disrupt the coveted Kenyan sweep. Paul Kipsiele Koech tried desperately to hold off Tahri but fell short by 0.08 seconds, while Olympic champion Brimin Kipruto could not conted up front and finished seventh. It was the tenth consecutive WC steeplechase win for the Kenyan men.
Kemboi won in a fantastic championship record 8:00.43 seconds, while fourth place was 8:01.26 for Koech. That's correct, 8:01.26 earned Koech only fourth place in this amazing final.
While most people will only treat the Kenyans as a pack, we want to explain why the end results were actually very interesting if you look at the Kenyans as individuals.
Before we go any farther, just take a look at the splits below for the kilometers and the final five laps...
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