Bahraini world champion Winfred Yavi eyes Diamond League crown

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s recently crowned world champion Winfred Yavi will be looking to add another major international accolade to her already impressive resume, when she goes for her first Diamond League title this Saturday.

Winfred has qualified to compete in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 2023 Diamond League final at The Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, in the US.

The two-day meeting will mark the culmination of this athletics outdoor season’s Diamond League, which is the toptier annual series of track and field competitions, under World Athletics, comprising meetings from around the world. 

Athletes score points at the various Diamond League events throughout the season to earn qualification for the final, where they will vie for the Diamond Trophy and come away with a first prize of $30,000 in their discipline.

This year will mark Winfred’s third straight appearance at the Diamond League final. She is one of 11 athletes on the event’s start list, issued by World Athletics, the sport’s governing body. 

The rest of the field includes Kenyans Beatrice Chepkoech and Faith Cherotich, both of whom joined Winfred on the podium at this year’s World Athletics Championships 2023 in Budapest.

Winfred also defeated Chepkoech and Cherotich to first place in their re-match just a few days after Hungary, where they met again at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting in Switzerland.

The line-up of steeplechase participants in the Diamond League finale is completed by Sembo Almayew and Zerfe Wondemagegn from Ethiopia, Marwa Bouzayani of Tunisia, Peruth Chemutai of Uganda, Jackline Chepkoech of Kenya, Alice Finot of France, Marusa Mismas Zrimsek of Slovenia, and Courtney Wayment of the US.

This full field  were  also amongst the competitors in the steeplechase medal race in Budapest.

In last year’s Diamond League final, Winfred claimed the silver medal after finishing behind winner Werkuha Getachew of Ethiopia.

It was an improvement of her 2021 appearance, when she finished in sixth place. Winfred is looking to be the third Bahraini in recent years to have been crowned as a Diamond League champion.

The 23-year-old is hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow-Bahrainis Ruth Jebet and Salwa Eid Naser.

Ruth claimed the women’s 3,000m steeplechase Diamond League crown in 2017 when she finished the final with a thenworld lead and meeting record. Salwa, meanwhile, was back-toback Diamond League champions in the women’s 400m in 2018 and 2019, after having won silver in 2017.

In addition, Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew was also a silver-medallist in the men’s 5,000m in 2021. Winfred will be the only Bahraini competing in Eugene this Saturday night, Bahrain time.