For 10 minutes, world junior record holder, Ruth Bosibori stood at the written press mixed zone resembling an accused waiting for the judge to pass a guilty or not verdict.Moments earlier, she had just toyed with her qualification hopes for the women’s steeplechase final of World Championships after slackening pace in the last 50m to allow three runners to pip her to the finishing line.
The fastest loser ticket was her only hope of qualification after running 9:27.04 for fifth and outside automatic qualification bracket in Heat 2 of women’s steeplechase preliminaries.
With her heart pumping like pom-poms, news filtered that she had squeezed to the final as the third fastest loser.
"I’m off to thank my God and you can be sure I will not joke at the final, I did not know there were people behind me at the finish," she told FeverPitch moments later before jumping up and down like she won a medal.
"I don’t know what I could have done if I had not qualified. I was fine and the race wasn’t slow. It is a mistake I will not repeat," she added.
Before her emotional roller coaster commenced, she watched teammate, Gladys Kipkemoi, gracefully run in the Heat 3 to finish second after a dead heat finish with Ethiopia’s Africa champion, Zemzem Ahmed where both runners were given 9:29.36.
Featuring in a heat where the title defence of Russia’s Yekaterina Volkova (9:43.52, seventh) came to a crushing end, Kipkemoi said: "I feel good, it was my first time out in such an event and to finish ahead of a world champion is great, it was not difficult."
Earlier, Milka Chemos, the first Kenyan on show, gallantly fought for fourth (9:23.87) to earn automatic qualification to tomorrow’s medal race.
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