El Bakkali retains Olympic steeplechase crown, Kibiwott claims bronze

Commonwealth Games champion Abraham Kibiwott Wednesday settled for bronze to lift Kenya’s medal tally to five as late surge by Soufiane El Bakkali saw the Moroccan become the first man to successfully defend the Olympic 3000m steeplechase title since Volmari Iso-Hollo achieved the feat in 1928 and 1932.

El Bakkali timed 8min 06.05sec to thwart Kenyans’ plan of reclaiming the water and barrier event dominance they relinquished in Tokyo, with American Kenneth Rooks surprising in the final straight sprinting to silver in a personal best time of 8:06.41.

Kibiwott, bronze medallist from last year’s World Championships, improved his 10th place finish in Tokyo timing a season best time of 8:06.47 for bronze.

Other Kenya’s representatives Simon Koech (8:09.26) and Amos Serem (8:19.74) finished seventh and 14th respectively.

Kibiwott dedicated the bronze medal to his six-day old daughter –as of August 7.

“I wanted the gold medal but we fell short. I’m picking many positives because I finished 10th in Tokyo and now I’m on the podium. It is a big achievement to me and I dedicate the medal to my daughter who we welcomed just six days ago. We were blessed with her just a few days before coming to Paris and so this Olympics is all about her,” elated Kibiwott said.

His last race before the Olympics was the Paris Diamond League, where he also finished third.

Champion El Bakkali arrived in Paris with a target on his back, having won the last three global championships.

After first triumphing at the Tokyo Olympics, when he became the first non-Kenyan runner to win the Olympic steeplechase title since 1980, he confirmed his status with back-to-back victories in world championships in Eugene and Budapest.

His second Olympic gold in the French capital leaves him in rare company among Arab athletes to have doubled up at the Summer Games.

Only his Moroccan compatriot Hicham El Guerrouj, who won 1500m and 5,000m gold in Athens 2004, and Tunisian swimmer Oussama Mellouli (1500m freestyle in Beijing 2008 and 10km marathon in London 2012) have achieved the feat.