What’s new? Kenya wins steeplechase, Eaton leads decathlon
RIO DE JANEIRO – Some things haven’t changed much in track and field at the Olympics. On Wednesday, it was Kenya winning yet another steeplechase gold medal and Ashton Eaton leading the decathlon competition.
With temperatures reaching 36 Celsius (97F) on the sunbaked track, Kenya organized a very orderly changing of the guard, with 21-year-old Conseslus Kipruto running away from double Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi to set a games record time and extend the country’s streak to nine straight titles in the event.
Kipruto’s dominance was such that he already started celebrating coming into the home straight and, as he was flying over the last barrier, was looking behind to see if anyone was still coming. No one was, so he stretched his arms out and raised his fist in victory as he jogged across the line in a showboating extravaganza that would have made Usain Bolt proud.
“I watched the screen, I saw I was far from them, and nobody’s going to catch me, so I celebrated early,” he said.
It was his first gold following two silvers at the last world championships.
The excitement behind him centered on American Evan Jager clinching silver ahead of Kemboi. At 34, Kemboi immediately indicated it was his last Olympic race, swiping his hand in a quitting gesture. Kemboi also won four world titles.
“It’s my conclusion that today, this has been my last track (race) in my career. Thank you,” Kemboi said.
Now everyone will be looking for Kipruto.
“He already told me to take over the steeple so I am so happy for that,” he said of Kemboi.
Kipruto took the early lead and then settled behind Jager, timing his run until surging back into the lead as the bell sounded and finishing in 8 minutes, 03.28 seconds. Jager split the Kenyans on the podium, overhauling Kemboi on the last straight to take silver in 8:04.28.
Despite Kenya’s dominance in the event, Jager didn’t want to over-state his best-of-the-rest status.
“It feels like silver, but I’m totally ok with silver,” he said. “Beating Kemboi, who I believe is the greatest steeplechaser of all time, it’s a huge accomplishment for me and it makes me very proud.” Jager’s was the first medal in the men’s steeple for an American since Brian Diemer in 1984.
If the result of the nation winning the steeplechase was predictable, so was the scorecard in the decathlon.
The quest to become the world’s greatest has recently turned into a question of whether Eaton will keep setting records. Early Wednesday, he wasn’t fastest out of the blocks though. That honor went to Canada’s Damian Warner, who beat Eaton in a 100-meter heat and set an Olympic decathlon best 10.30 seconds in the process.
Eaton immediately regained the lead with a mark of 7.94 meters in long jump, 27 centimeters more Warner. And he extended it in the shot put. After three events, he has 2,803 points and a sizable lead of 95 over Warner.
In other morning action, Caster Semenya cruised through her 800 heat, proving she has the form to live up to her role as favorite for gold.
Semenya is at the heart of a debate on hyperandrogenism, a condition where a woman has significantly higher levels of testosterone than normal. Because of it, Wednesday’s performance at the Olympic Stadium was eagerly anticipated.
She easily won and didn’t really push herself, saying: “Times don’t matter in championships but medals, gold medals, silver or bronze, those are targets.”
In the men’s 5,000, defending champion Mo Farah was just as little worried about the time in his heat. Staying upright was tougher.
The Somali-born British runner was tripped in the 10,000 on Saturday but still recovered to win his second Olympic gold over that distance. His bid for a repeat distance double faced another scare on Wednesday.
He had a slight trip after being clipped by another runner on the last lap of the 5K heats Wednesday morning as well, but was quickly back into stride and ran comfortably with the leading pack to finish third in 13 minutes, 25.25 seconds. Bernard Lagat of the United States also advanced.
“I’ve got such a long stride … I always get tripped up or tangled up with someone,” Farah said. “But I managed to stay on my feet. It’s quite nerve wracking.”