It was a night for African athletics at the 2023 Paris Diamond League as Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma set new world records in the women’s 5000m and the men’s 3000m steeplechase respectively.
Exactly a week after setting a new world record in the women’s 1500m in Florence, Kipyegon went to Paris to participate in a different but familiar event – the women’s 5000m and she did not disappoint as she sent spectators inside the Charlety Stadium into a frenzy with a new world record.
The Kenya middle-distance star saw off competition from Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who previously held the world record, with her leading time of 14 minutes and 5.20 seconds.
Gidey, however, settled for second place with a time of 14:07.94.
Girma dazzled in the 3000m steeplechase event with a new record time of 7 minutes and 52.11 seconds to broke the previous record held by Kenya-born Saif Saaeed Shaheen since 2004.
The victory comes as a boost for Girma who is looking to set his hands on the gold medal at the World Championships after settling for silver medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, 2019 and 2022 World Athletics Championships.
18-year-old Kenyan athlete Emmanuel Wanyonyi also dominated the men’s 800m with a leading time of 1:43.27 to beat Canada’s Marco Arop and Algeria’s Slimane Moula who settled for second and third spots.
Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo secured a podium finish in the men’s 100m, finishing second and third respectively behind USA’s Noah Lyles.
Lyles cruised past the finish line in 9.97 seconds, narrowly beating Omanyala by 0.01 second, while Tebogo finished third in 10.05 seconds ahead of Jamaica’s Yohan Blake.
Meanwhile, Ivory Coast’s Marie Josee Ta Lou finished third in the women’s 200m behind the USA duo of Gabby Thomas and Abby Steiner.
The fastest African woman completed the race in a time of 22.34 seconds, behind Thomas’ 22.05 seconds.
