Kenyan stars struggle at World Indoor in Nanjing

Kenya's Lilian Odira (L) and Portugal's Patricia Silva compete in the women's 800m semi-final during the Indoor World Athletics Championships in Nanjing, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, on March 22, 2025. [AFP]

It was a show of class, but Kenyan stars struggled in the 3000m race, which was the first final that the country’s cast was competing in at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.

There was no medal for Kenya in 3000m final run yesterday afternoon.

The country’s hopes are on Susan Ejore’s shoulders who is flying Kenya’s colours in the 1500m final as the world indoors come to a close today.

Former Hamburg 10km winner Purity Kajuju Gitonga who carried hopes of Kenya’s athletics enthusiasts in the women’s 3000m cat fight settled for eighth place, same as African 5000m bronze medallist Cornelius Kemboi in the men’s category.

The men’s 3000m title was hotly contested, with pre-race favorite Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway edging out Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia by 16 micro-seconds.

The Norwegian two-time Olympic champion produced a blistering 7:46.09 (a season best) to win the hot contest, while Aregawi stopped the timer at 7:46.25 for silver as Ky Robinson of Australia took bronze in 7:47.09.

"I felt strong in the end, and generally I have a better finish than my competitors. It was a little bit of a fight, but I was confident that I could make a move in the last 100m and win, and ultimately that was the main goal. Going into a race like this, I always expect it to be fast, because that's the worst case scenario. I got some slower laps at the beginning of the race, which saved me some energy. But the pace racked up significantly more, but it's good. My competitors study me, but you have to race many times to be able to respond in all scenarios. I've done a lot of racing but I'm not perfect. It's all about learning,” said Ingebrigtsen.

The two-time world champion went on: “I don't enjoy the 1500m warm-up, but the racing is a lot of fun, and that's what I'm going to do tomorrow - have a lot of fun."

Kajuju, on the other hand, was looking to medal in the women’s 3000m,  a race that saved Kenya blushes last year in Glasgow.

Steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech’s bronze in the 3000m in Glasgow was the only medal Kenya won in that event.

Yesterday’s 3000m contest was won by Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, with USA’s Shelby Houlihan bagging silver and Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull of Australia settling for bronze.

"To win this event, I prepared myself strongly, and I feel very happy that I won the race. I was sick at home just before coming to Nanjing, so I stayed at the back to conserve myself before making my push. I'm healthy now, and I came here to win. Last year I won the 1500m, now I've won the 3000m, and I'm so happy about that. I try my best, and God helped me with the rest. I don't know how I will celebrate - my happiness is beyond me,” Hailu, the gold medallist, said.

Kenyan track stars were knocked out of the 800m final after Olympian Lilian Odira as well as Noah Kibet and Alex Ngeno failed to qualify.

Odira was a distant sixth in Heat 1 of the women’s semi final while Kibet and Ngeno placed fourth in their respective Heats (1 and 3).

Ugandan Tom Dradriga made waves after pulling a surprise in Heat 2 where he finished second behind USA’s Josh Hoey to qualify for the final.

"I made it through to the final, I am so happy with it. To win the final, I will have to fix my wrist and just run the race. I moved to Spain for new training. It was good. But I moved back to Uganda a couple of months later, because the weather was not so good for me since it was winter. That's why I prefer to move back home," the Ugandan said.