Tsegay claims Ethiopia’s first world champs gold in dramatic Budapest final

Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay claimed the 10 000m world title in dramatic fashion at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Saturday night.

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With the 25-lap race coming down to a sprint finish between the Ethiopian and defending champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, the two made contact in the final metres with Hassan tumbling to the track while Tsegay held on to win in a time of 31.27.18.

She led home a trio of Ethiopians, with world record-holder Letsenbet Gidey taking the silver in 31:28.16 and Ejgayehu Taye the bronze in 31:28.31, before heading back to a shaken Hassan to embrace her after the incident.

“I am keeping my smile, but it is really hard. I am very disappointed,” said Hassan afterwards. “This is sport, these things happen. I just had a bad moment. I felt really strong and tried to push in the last lap. I think I got pushed by the Ethiopian. I hope I am not crazy. I will need to look at the replay to see what exactly happened.”

Earlier in the evening in the men’s 100m heats, six of Africa’s fastest men safely made their way through the first round in their respective bids to become the first man from the continent to claim the world 100m title.

Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala was second behind American Noah Lyles (9.95) in his heat in 9.97 with Nigeria’s Usheoritse Itsekiri third in 10.17. South African Akani Simbine also kicked off his campaign with a time of 9.97 to win his heat while Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo claimed victory in his in a time of 10.11.

Nigerian Seye Ogunlewe (10.07) and Liberian Emmanuel Matadi (10.13) were the other African athlete safely through to the semifinals after finishing third in their respective heats.

“I’m really happy to get that first run out the way, get the win out the way, and just feeling the track,” said a relaxed Simbine. “It’s my first time inside the stadium today. Just running and winning and trusting my running pattern, and trusting how I race, and trusting the shape that I’m in, you know it’s paying off. I feel good for tomorrow, and I feel good for the semifinal and the final.”

Tebogo added: “The plan today was just to move to the semifinal and from there to qualify for the final. Everything is possible in the final, any medal… There are some things in my technique that I can improve, you will see it in the semifinal.”

Four African athletes progressed to the semifinals of the men’s 1500m. Kenya’s Abel Kipsang won his heat in a time of 3:34.08 while his 19-year-old compatriot Reynold Cheruiyot finished third in his race behind Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen in a time of 3:34.08.

South Africa’s Tshepo Tshite claimed second spot in an unusually slow second heat. With the top six all sure of progression, the time was of little consequence, however. His 3:46.79 saw his through, while Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot also progressed from the same heat after finishing sixth in 3:47.09

“I think that was a confident victory,” said Kipsang afterwards. “With this heat my main aim was to go through and become familiar with the track. Now my focus will be on the semis and we will see if I can go through to the final. I have big ambitions but I need to go step by step.”

Elsewhere, Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango made sure of his place in Monday night’s triple jump final. His first-round effort of 17.12m saw him safely through qualification.

Athletics action continues in Budapest on Sunday morning with Kenya’s Emily Ngii set to compete in the 20km walk, starting at 7.15am. South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk will begin his World Championship campaign in heat 2 of the 400m scheduled for 10.33am while Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou will take to the track for the first round of the women’s 100m, running in heat 6 at 12.45pm.