Bahrain’s Balew, Eunice qualify for Olympics
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahraini elite athletes Birhanu Balew and Eunice Chebichii Chumba both secured their places in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games with top-three finishes in their respective races held in Europe this past week.
Balew finished second while clocking a new national record in the men’s 10,000 metres at the 60th Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, while Eunice took third place in the women’s race of the Generali Milano Marathon in Italy on Sunday. On both occasions, Balew and Eunice achieved the Olympics qualifying standards for their respective events.
In Ostrava, which was a Gold meeting part of the World Athletics Continental Tour, Balew completed his race in a new Bahrain record time of 27 minutes 07.49 seconds as the runner-up.
His mark beat the qualification requirement of 27:28.00 to compete in Tokyo this summer, and it was also the best time of the 25-year-old’s career over the distance, with his previous top mark being 31:16.51 which he set in 2017 in Doha.
Balew finished well behind race winner Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who had a winning time of 26:33.93.
Iliass Aouani of Italy came third in 27:45.81. There were nine total finishers in the race, while three dropped out.
Meanwhile, in Milan, an event that was part of the World Athletics Label Road Races series, Eunice claimed third place following a performance of two hours 23 minutes 10 seconds.
She beat the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:29:30 for the Women’s Marathon. Her time was also the personal best of her career.
The 27-year-old’s previous fastest time was 2:24:27, which she clocked in 2017 in Rotterdam. Winning the race in Milan was Hiwot Gebrekidan of Ethiopia in 2:19:35, while Racheal Mutgaa of Kenya finished third in 2:22:50.
A total of 33 elite distance runners from around the world competed in the marathon, with five unable to finish. Both Balew and Eunice were the only Bahrainis in their respective races.
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