Winnie Nanyondo was Uganda’s best performer at the 2021 Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy on Thursday night.
Despite failing to break the four-minute barrier, Nanyondo ran her season-best in the 1500m crossing the finish line in 4:00.84, good enough for fifth place.
Netherland’s Sifan Hassan ran a meeting record and world-leading time of 3:53.63 to win the race while Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon came second and in a personal best and national record of 3:53.91.
Meanwhile, running his last competitive race before the Tokyo Olympics, Joshua Cheptegei faded to finish a distant sixth in the 5000m after starting aggressively.
Cheptegei was in charge through three splits (2000m, 3000m, and 4000m) but ran out of steam in the final split as 20-year old Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigsten, who won the race with a World Lead, a Personal Best and a European Record of 12:48.45 took control.
Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet came second with a time of 12:49.02, followed by Ahmed Mohamed (12:50.12) of Canada, Katir Mohamed (12:50.79) of Spain, and Knight Justyn (12:51.93) of Canada in a fast race.
In the Men’s 3000m steeplechase, Albert Chemutai’s season-best 8:23.96 was only good enough for a tenth-place finish.