Girls' 3000m final report - Donetsk 2013

WRITTEN FOR THE IAAF WEBSITE

Kenya claimed their sixth girls’ 3,000m title in the eight-year history of these championships courtesy of Lilian Rengeruk’s scorching world-leading 8:58.74 victory and 13-second lifetime best.

The 16-year-old won a thrilling home-straight battle with the fast-finishing Berhan Demiesa of Ethiopia, who in turned registered a fine 9:00.06 personal best from her teammate,  Silenat Yismaw, clocking a 9:01.63 best for bronze.

Remgeruk, the recent winner of Kenya’s World youth trials, shot off from the gun to enjoy a 50m lead and passed the first kilometre mark in  3:01.10, showing she was on course for a sub-nine minute time.

Keeping up her impressive pace with a 3:01.43 split to go through the 2,000m mark in 6:02.53, Remgeruk still had a comfortable 40-metres to play with ahead of the chasing pack, though in a group of four working tightly together, Demiesa and Yismaw looked menacing as they gradually bridged the gap to 30m with two laps remaining.

Hitting the bell in 7:53.30, Remgeruk attempted to change gear and bravely held off the Ethiopian challenge down the final home straight as Demiesa unleashed a dramatic last-gasp sprint but to no avail as her East-African rival narrowly managed to hold the victory in the dying metres. 

Her winning time smashed the previous world-leading mark by almost 10 seconds, as both Demiesa and Yismaw took an astonishing 19 and 17-seconds, respectively off their lifetime bests.

Further back in fourth place, Uganda’s Stella Chesang clocked a 9:11.03 personal best, whilst Germany’s Alina Reh finished fifth in another best, 9:20.99.

World junior champion Mercy Chebwogen, meanwhile, could finish only eighth with a lacklustre 9:27.98.