Florence Kiplagat overtakes Linet Masai to lead a Kenyan 1-2 in the senior women's race (© Getty Images)
Kenyan Florence Kiplagat who became World Cross Country champion last week in Amman, dominated the Trofeo Alasport in Alà dei Sardi in the heart of Sardinia, which traditionally ends the cross country season in Italy.
Kiplagat ran a gun-to-tape 5 km race taking the lead from the early stages. Kiplagat crossed the finish-line in 17:33 beating World Junior 5000M champion Utura Sule (17:53) and Abere Alebachew (18:10), both from Ethiopia. The first italian was Federica Dal Ri, who finished fifth in 19:42. Kiplagat capped a perfect cross country season in which she also won the Kenyan Cross Country Trials and two spanish races in Elgoibar and Seville.
Kiplagat’s husband Moses Mosop, World Cross Country silver medallist in Mombasa 2007 and eleventh last week in Amman, completed the Kenyan triumph in the Sardinian venue crossing the finish-line in 31:59 winning a star-studded men’s 10 km race.
Kenya claimed a podium sweep with Amman sixth placer Matthew Kisorio in second place 32 seconds behind Moses Mosop. Edwin Soi, Olympic bronze medallist in the 5000 metres in Bejing, finished in third place in 32:51.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Results from the Trofeo Alasport in Alà dei Sardi:
Men’s race (10 km):
1 Moses Mosop (Kenya) 31:59
2 Matthew Kisorio (Kenya) 32:31
3 Edwin Soi (Kenya) 32:51
Women’s race (5 km):
1 Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) 17:33
2 Huedo Utura Sule (Ethiopia) 17:53
3 Alebachew Abere Selam (Ethiopia)18:10
