Eisa retains world U-20 5,000m title in Lima
On a cool, crisp evening in the Peruvian capital on Tuesday (27), Ethiopia’s Medina Eisa turned up the heat on her rivals to successfully defend her 5,000m title, the highlight of the first day of action at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24.
Eisa’s winning time of 14:39.71 carved more than 28 seconds off the championship record set by Genzebe Dibaba, which had stood since 2010, and brought her home well clear of her compatriot, Mekedes Alemeshete.
The two broke away from the field from the outset and alternated pace-setting duties, passing 2000m in 5:58.59 with a 40-metre lead.
By 3000m, reached in 8:57.28, they’d built a 70-metre lead and from there it only extended, with Eisa breaking clear of her compatriot with three and a half laps to run and lapping most of the field to hand women’s 5000m gold to Ethiopia for the eighth time in the last nine editions.
Alemeshete followed her home in 14:57.44, with Uganda’s Charity Cherop getting bronze in a PB of 15:25.02. -WorldAthletics
