Kenyan athletes won two more gold medals on Sunday August 8, to end their 2022 Commonwealth Games that were held in Birmingham, the United Kingdom in fantastic fashion.
The first gold medal of the day came in the 800m men's race courtesy of Wyclife Kinyamal. The Kenya Police runner took control of the race in the final lap and never looked back.
He went on to cross the finishing line in 1:47.52 and successfully defended the title he won at the 2018 edition held in Gold Coast Australia.
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Australia's Peter Bole came second in 1:47.66 while Peter Peterson clocked 1:48.25 to win a bronze medal for the hosts England.
The second gold medal of the day for Kenya was won by fast-rising starlet Beatrice Chebet who ran a tactical race to win the 5,000m race.
The Londiani-based runner, who recently won a silver medal in the World Athletics Championships, waited until the last lap before taking command of the race. Chebet produced a spectacular kick as the athletes approached the final bend to win the race in 14:38.21.
10,000m winner Eilish McColgan bagged bronze for England while Kenya's Sheila Busienei Jepleting settled for bronze. McColgan and Jepleting clocked 14:42.14 and 14:48.24 respectively.
In the 1,500m women's race, Kenya failed to register a podium place finish in a race which was won by Laura Muir of Scotland. Reigning African champion Winny Chebet came in last with Edinah Jebitok registering a 9th place finish.
Former world Javelin champion Julius Yego finally managed to register a podium place finish in an international competition - the YouTube man as he is popularly known won a bronze medal for Kenya.
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Yego's throw of 85.70m was enough to make the Kapsabet Boys High School alumni finish third in a highly competitive discipline. Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem won the event with a Club Games record throw of 90.18m with Grenada's Anderson Peters settling for silver. The latter managed a distance of 88.64m.
The bronze medal is a morale boosting one for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro silver medalist who has been struggling with injuries in the past few years.
Reacting after the event, Yego expressed delight for making it to the podium and thanked all his supporters.
"Happy to be on this podium once more, big thank you to all who supported me to be back again after being out for so long.
"Bronze medal at the commonwealth games with great talents on the field was amazing and scintillating cheers all," read his Facebook post.
Yego’s focus now shifts to the preparation of the 2023 World Athletics Championships slated for Budapest Hungary and the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games scheduled for July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.
Kenya registered a 12th place position in the Games having amassed a total of 21 medals (6 gold medals, 10 bronze medals and 5 silver medals)
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