Alfred Kirwa’s bottled title defence in men 800m summed Kenya’s outing at the 12th World Championships that closed curtains at the imposing Olympiastadion in Berlin.With a final medal tally consisting four gold, five silver and two bronze medals all won in mid and long distances, Kenya upheld her position as Africa’s best but dropped by a place to position three in overall standings on 11.
Stratospheric standards set by the same team at 2007 Worlds in Osaka and last year’s Beijing Olympics where five gold medals were won on each occasion laid high platform to judge the class of Berlin 2009.
With Kenya trailing United States (ten gold, six silver, six bronze) and new sprint power, Jamaica (seven gold, four silver, two bronze) on the final log, the feeling of too near yet two far in some events will pervade.
It all started in emphatic fashion when Linet Masai clocked 30:51.24 to deliver bitter rivals Ethiopia when she ended their decade long hold on the 10,000m title on day one (August 15). Grace Momanyi (30:52.25) finished fourth in that race but made the race for the winner by shelving her ambitions in what was expected to set the tone for the rest of the Kenyan squad.
Podium places
Two bronze medals, in 3,000m women steeplechase and men 10,000m were won on Day 3 as Milka Chemos and Moses Masai claimed the last podium places at their finals.
In the first, Chemos who only began running steeplechase in April ran the race of her life in 9:08:57, a career best that saw her finish ahead of among others, world record holder, Gulnara Galkina.
A championship record of 26:46.31 staged by Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele subdued the best team efforts of Moses, the elder brother of Linet, Bernard Kipyego (fourth) and Micah Kogo (seventh) in men 10,000m.
Day four belonged to Ezekiel Kemboi, who became the eighth Kenyan steeplechase champion in a championship best of 8:00.43 as Richard Mateelong graduated from Osaka bronze to take silver (8:00.89 PB). France’s Bouabdellah Ali robbed Kenya of the podium sweep by shining Paul Kipsiele metres from the line.
The next day, Kenya somehow lost what would have been a first 1,500m world title despite parading the fastest two runners of the year in Asbel Kiprop (fourth) and Augustine Choge (fifth) where talk of disharmony in the squad surfaced.
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