Conseslus Kipruto retained his IAAF Diamond League steeplechase crown while Hellen Obiri stormed to victory in 1500m in the Zurich Weltklasse meet Thursday.
Despite losing his shoe during the first lap, Kipruto zoomed past Soufiane El Bakkali in the final few strides to win in 8:10.15 ahead of the Moroccan, who clocked 8:11.19.
Kipruto has proven himself before over Soufiane, beating him twice to the 2016 Olympic and last year’s world titles but has surely never faced such a challenge as this.
“I am injured because I lost my left shoe. That was a mess. But motivated me to fight as hard as I could, so the race went well,” Kipruto said.
In another breathtaking performance of the evening, Obiri edged out a star-studded line-up of 1500m record-holder Genzebe Dibaba and Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia and European champ Hassan to the tape.
Obiri clocked 14:38.39 with Hassan coming in second in 14:38.77 and Taferi third in 14:40.07.
Read: Second Place Finish For Team Kenya In Just Concluded World IAAF Championships
For her efforts, the Kenyan queen took home one of the sixteen Diamond trophies on offer and accompanying winner’s cheque of $50,000.
Photos Courtesy
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