World U20: Kenyan youngsters perform dismally, Ethiopians dominate 3,000 meters as records tumble on opening day

It was a horrendous opening day for Kenya at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships after the hosts’ two representatives in the 3,000 metres race failed in their quest to bag medals on home soil performing dismally against their Ethiopian rivals.

Daniel Kinyanjui and Benard Yegon finished seventh and ninth respectively in a race dominated by Ethiopia’s Tedese Worku and Ali Abdilmana, who won gold and silver respectively with Eritrean Habtom Samuel completing the podium slots for a bronze medal.

There was no trace of doubt that Ethiopian Worku, already established in the race compared to his peers, was not going to let the pre-race favourite tag go, dictating proceedings from start to finish to set a championship record of 7:42.09, with his compatriot clocking 7:44.55.

Yegon had been Kenya’s best bet but he could not sustain the power of Worku despite running shoulder to shoulder with the Ethiopian in the early exchanges.

It is the worst possible start for Kenya who end Day One without a medal in the championships that continue until Sunday and have to deal with the frustration of being disqualified from the final of 4 x 400 metres Mixed Relay event for lane infringement.

Earlier, some national U20 100m records were set by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo and Namibia’s Beatrice Masilingi, with Jan Dolezalek chalking a Czech U20 hammer record and a strong start by Finnish heptathlete Saga Vanninen highlighting the first morning of action at a cold Kasarani Stadium.

Vanninen, the reigning European U20 champion, showed she is well on track to become Finland’s first ever world U20 heptathlon gold medallist by shooting out to an early lead, clocking 13.60 in the 100m hurdles and clearing a season’s best of 1.78m in the high jump.

The 18-year-old’s hurdles time was just outside her best of 13.55 while her high jump was just 1cm down on her best.

Austria’s Sophie Kreiner is her closest pursuer on 1860 points after a 14.51 100m hurdles and 1.78m high jump, while Estonia’s Pippi Lotta Enok sits third on 1855 points after a 14.28 clocking in the hurdles and 1.75m clearance in the high jump.

Additional reporting by World Athletics