Bahraini elite athlete Kemi Adekoya breaks Asian record again!

TDT | Manama       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya came one place shy of stepping onto the podium last night in the women’s 400 metres hurdles at the World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest, but still made history by setting a new Asian record for the third straight race.

Competing in her first world final, Kemi put in a valiant effort and on the home straight made a late charge to take fourth place overall in a hotly contested race with a time of 53.09 seconds.

Her mark set a new Asian record for the third time in as many races at these world championships. She first shattered a continental best that stood for 30 years with a run of 53.56s in her first-round heats, and then repeated her success but went even faster in the semi-finals with a time of 53.39s.

Kemi further improved on that mark last night, thus also setting a new Bahraini record and a personal best.
Winning the gold medal was Femke Bol of the Netherlands in 51.70s, while Shamier Little of the US took the silver in 52.80s. Rushell Clayton of Jamaica finished just ahead of Kemi to take the bronze in 52.81s.

Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew could not qualify for the men’s 5,000m final after finishing 15th in his heat last night.
His race was one of two in the preliminary round, and he needed to finish amongst the first eight.

Balew was in the middle of the pack to start things off, but then powered to fifth, right behind the leaders, with five laps to go. In a hotly contested race, Balew was on the edge of the qualifying positions with three laps left, and then positioned himself in the top eight at the bell. But he faded midway through the last lap and was already out of contention heading down the final bend.

Balew crossed the finish line in 13 minutes 41.00 seconds. Spain’s Mohamed Katir won in 13:35.90 to lead the eight qualifiers from the race. Luis Grijalva of Guatemala won the second, quicker heat in 13:32.72.
With Balew’s elimination, only two more Bahrainis are still to compete at the Hungarian capital.

Tomorrow, former women’s marathon world champion Rose Chelimo will be looking to add another gold medal when she competes in the women’s marathon at 8am, Bahrain time. Then, on Sunday, Winfred Yavi will be aiming for her maiden world title when she runs the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final, scheduled for 10.05pm, Bahrain time.