Inside a fully packed Stade de France, Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai won silver in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase final on Tuesday night.
Chemutai crossed the finishing line second with a new National Record of 8:53.34 behind Bahrain’s Winfred Mutile Yavi (8:52.76).
Yavi clinched Gold in a new Olympic Record that previously stood at 8:58.81.
Kenya’s Faith Cherotich took bronze with 8:55.15 with the spirited third-place finish, as French national, Alice Finot was fourth with her best time of 8:55.15.
This is a dream come true. It has been such a hard journey to get to this point. In the final I was expecting something good. I just felt good about the race. I believed in myself, that I had that finishing speed.
Winfred Mutile Yavi, 3000m steeple chase winner at Paris 2024 Olympics
Yavi’s winning time of 8:52.76 is the fourth fastest performance of all time – a mark that only she and Chepkoech have ever bettered. Chepkoech set her world record of 8:44.32 in Monaco in 2018, while Yavi ran 8:50.66 to win ahead of Chepkoech (8:51.67) in Eugene last September.
They were followed over the finish line in Paris by Cherotich, Finot, Almayew (9:00.83) and Chepkoech (9:04.24) as the top 10 all went sub-9:10.00.
Elizabeth Bird set a British record of 9:04.35 in seventh place, while Ethiopia’s Lomi Muleta was eighth, Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto was ninth and Germany’s Lea Meyer 10th.
This is Uganda’s second medal at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics.
Joshua Cheptegei won the first medal, a gold in the men’s 10,000m race with an Olympic record.
Chemutai won gold in the 3000m Steeplechase race at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
By Wednesday morning, Uganda was positioned 33rd with one gold, one silver out of the 206 countries.
Meanwhile, the men 3000m steeple chase final will be held on Wednesday, 7th August 2024.
