Nairobi — Jacob Krop won Kenya’s ninth medal at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, clinching silver in the men’s 5,000m after losing a sprint finish to Norwegian Jacob Ingebrigtsen.
The 21-year old had looked strong all through the race, but it was Ingebrigtsen, silver medalist previously in the men’s 1500m who would come out top after leading in the final two laps of the race under scorching Eugene heat.
The Norwegian timed 13:09.24 while Krop was second for silver in 13.09.98. Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo sprinted to third for bronze, timing a season’;s best time of 13:10.20.
The other Kenyans in the race, Nicholas Kimeli and Daniel Simiu finished seventh and 10th respectively after failing to match up with the final lap scorching pace stepped up by the Norwegian.
The Kenyan trio had taken over the pacing duties of the race with Kimeli, World Leader over the distance this year and Simiu paying the ultimate price by depleting their energy levels when it mattered most.
Uganda’s Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei also suffered for the same as he finished ninth.
Cheptegei had started off the field with some scorching pace, staying in the lead for the first three laps before signalling the Kenyan trio to take charge. Having taken gold in the men;s 10,000m, he looked spent out and started fading into the field.
With two laps to go, Ingebrigtsen took the lead and started pushing up the pace, with Kimeli and Krop following his coattails while Simiu dropped off.
At the bell, the two Kenyans were firmly in his heels, but at the backstraight, he began to peel off.
He kicked in some devastating finishing kick and Krop’s hopes of catching up faded as he settled for bronze. Kimeli also drifted down to seventh, timing 13:11.97.