Caroline Chepkurui Tuigong of Kenya became the first ever World Youth champion at the Girls 2000m Steeplechase as the event was held for the first time in the 8-year history of the Championships.
Winner of last year’s 3000m Steeplechase at the World Junior Championships in Beijing and the World Youth leader Tuigong came as the outright favourite for gold and despite an unfruitful challenge by her compatriot and eventual silver medallist Christine Kambua Mayanga, it was a fairly easy race for the 17-year-old Kenyan champion.
Tuigong set a new personal best 6:22.30 which will also stand as the Championship record when the event moves to Bysgozscz in 2009 with Mayanga 19 hundredths of a second adrift in a new personal best 6:22.49.
Norwegian Junior champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal whose 2006 personal best of 6:22.64 made her a strong contender for a medal could not respond to the Kenyans finishing spring in the last 100 metres and had to settle for bronze in 6:25.30.
In a high standard quality final, which included 17 runners from 12 different countries, fourteen athletes improved on their personal best
LA
