PARIS 2024: Beatrice Chebet wins Kenya's first Olympics gold in women's 10,000M

Beatrice Chebet capped off a remarkable performance at the Paris Olympics by winning the women’s 10,000m title on Friday night at a packed Stade de France. This victory follows her earlier win in the 5,000m, making her a double Olympic champion.

Chebet, showing no signs of fatigue, timed her race perfectly to take the lead in the final sprint. She crossed the finish line in 30:43.25, narrowly beating Italy’s Nadia Battocletti, who set a new national record of 30:43.35. Defending champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands took the bronze with a season's best of 30:44.12.

The historic victory made the 24-year old the first Kenyan athlete to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games following her victory in the women's 5 000 metres on Monday night.

The win also make Chebet only the 20th Kenyan athlete win at least two gold medals at the Olympics and the fifth, and the first since Vivian Cheruiyot in Rio 2016, to scoop two medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games.

THE 10,000M OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL IS HOME! 🇰🇪

For the first time in History, Kenya has brought home gold in the 10,000m Olympic Women's race.

Her name is, BEATRICE CHEBET.#TeamKenya #HesabikaNaMabingwa pic.twitter.com/wIrNnmrWzd

— TeamKenya (@OlympicsKe) August 9, 2024

Julius Sang (1972), Kipchoge Keino (1968 and 1972), and Naftali Temu (1968) are the only other Kenyans to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games.

The final lap, which saw a crowd field of 13 runners engaged in a frantic sprint to the finish, almost Kenya scooping all the medals on offer but Margaret Kipkemboi (4th with a time of 30:44.58) and Lilian Rengeruk (5th with a time 30:45.04) fell short despite being one of the athletes who initiated the breakaway.

Kipkemboi and Rengeruk were helpless as the Italian Nadia Battocletti and the Dutch Sifan Hassan surged past them on the way to scooping the silver and the bronze medal respectively.

Battocletti, eager to make up for her fourth place finish in the women's 5 000 metres, chased Chebet to the finish in an inspired bid to snatch the ultimate prize from the runaway Kenyan but her long strides were no match for Chebet's devastating kick and she had to settle for second place with a national record time of 30:43.35.

Hassan, who won bronze in the women's 5 000 metres on Monday night and will be competing in the women's marathon on Sunday morning in her quest for an unprecedented treble of medals from long distance races at the Olympics, bagged the bronze medal with a time of 30:44.12, a season best time for her since tonight was the first time this year that she was running the 25-lap race.

Hassan, in typical fashion, ran her from behind, prudently isolating herselfs from the ferocious battle to control the race's pace by the athletes who burdened the responsibility of creating the leading pack. Hassan progressively sneaked on the leading pack, strategically closing the gap between her and them at crucial stages of the race until it was time for her to pounce with her legendary kick, which, this time, was only good enough for the bronze medal as she was helpless to stop Chebet from succedding her, yet again as it happened in the women's 5 000 metres, as the event's Olympic champion.

Once again, as in the finals of the women's 5 000 metres, the night ended disappointingly for Ethiopia, whose three representatives ranked way outside the medal.

Gudaf Tsegay, the reigning world champion who like Hassan is also competing in three events, finished sixth with a time of 30:45.21. She missed out on the medal in the women's 5 000 metres after finishing ninth and has a chance to redeem herself tomorrow night in the women's 1 500 metres final if she will have recovered sufficiently from tonight's race.

Her compatriots, Fotyen Tesfay and Tsigie Gebreselama finished 7th and 10th with times of 30:46.93 and 30:54.57 respectively.

The American duo of Weini Kelati Frezghi (30:49.98) Karissa Schweizer (30:51.99, personal best) ranked between Tesfay and Gebreselama after finishing 8th and 9th respectively.

Africa's other representatives in the race were Sarah Chelangat of Uganda (12th, 31:02.37), Francine Niyomukunzi of Burundi (14th, 31:17.02, personal best), and Annet Chelangat (21st, 31:50.41, personal best).

Rahel Daniel of Eritrea failed to finish the race after withdrawing due to injury.

Daisy Jepkemei, a Kenyan-born Kazakhstani, was 17th with a time of 31:26.55.