Kipkoech, Chepkemoi claim silver and bronze at World U20 Champs in Lima

Kipkoech timed 8mins 20.79 seconds to finish behind Norwegian Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen who hard-charged past the Kenyan to clinch gold in 3000m final clocking 8mins 20.56 seconds with Great Britain’s Edward Bird going for bronze at 8:21.00.

Another Kenyan Clinton Kimutai Ngetich finished a distant 11th with a time of 8mins 25.51 seconds.

“I must thank God for winning this silver. It was not a walk in the park but hard work that I put in for the medal,” said Kipkoech.

“With my colleague (Kimutai), we wanted team work that did not work well especially in the last lap and because my colleague faded off, I decided to go my way but it was unfortunate that I miscalculated in the last lap because I didn’t know that my competitors were that close to me,” he added.

Chepkemoi timed a personal best time of 9mins 29.84 seconds to claim bronze in the women’s 3000m steeplechase.

Sembo Almayew of Ethiopia won gold in 9 mins 12.71 seconds in a new championship record with Uganda’s Loice Chepkwemoi scooping silver with personal best time of 9:18.84.

“I am happy to have won a medal for my country Kenya. The race was not as easy as many will think and I know I will win next,” said Chepkemoi.

Meanwhile, Kenya's trio of Sarah Moraa, Phanuel Kipkosgei and Kelvin Kimutai stormed the 800m final with commanding performances ahead of the two finals.

Sara, who is the reigning African Games champion and cousin to 800m world champion Mary Moraa, led from gun to tape in 2 mins 3.44 seconds ahead of Italian Lorenza de Noni (2:04.21) and Ethiopian Aster Areri.

She will be Kenya's sole representative in the women’s 800m final scheduled for Saturday 12:50am.

In the men’s category, reigning ISF World Schools Cross Country Under 18 champion Phanuel Kipkosgei edged Japan’s Ko Ochiai to win in 1mins 48.2 seconds while Kimutai secured second in his heat with a time of 1:47.5 to sail through for the final scheduled for Saturday 12:35am.