Men’s 3000 steeple chase final
Steven Downes for IAAF
21 October 2000 – There can be few greater certainties in world class sport than that a Kenyan will win the steeplechase event. And in Raymond Yator, the latest chase talent from the east African nation, a true dynasty is being formed.
Yator duly became the seventh Kenyan steeplechase gold medallist out of eight at the World Junior Championships here on Saturday, the world junior record-holder running the fifth fastest time by a junior, 8min 16.34sec, a championship record, hurdling all the barriers – including the water jump – like a cat.
Training with Reuben Kosgei, the winner in Annecy two years ago and now Olympic gold medallist, had taught Yator not to be intimidated by competing on such a large stage.
For the fifth time at these championships, the Kenyans completed a steeplechase one-two, with David Chemweno finishing in a personal best 8:31.95 for silver, ahead of Morocco’s bronze medal-winning Abdellatif Chemlal (8:43.57).
