Clash of the Africans set for women’s 3000m in Doha

By ANA Sports Last updated May 17, 2021

Clash of the Africans in women’s 3000m in Doha

A group of women’s runner compete in the 3000m — File pic. Odile Nintije of Burundi, Mercy Chepkorir Kerarei of Kenya, Miyaka Sugata of Japan and Alesia Zarbo of France lead the pack in the women’s 3000m (stage 1) on the first day of the athletics programme in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games at the Youth Olympic Park athletics stadium in Buenos Aires in Argentina on Thursday October 11 2018. Photo by Roger Sedres (CanonSA/Africa News Agency/ANA)

JOHANNESBURG, May 17 (ANA) – The World Athletics Diamond League swings into action this month, and the women’s 3000m featuring Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey and Kenyan Hellen Obiri in Doha on May 28 is set to be one of the highlights.

It will be a case of world champion meets world record-holder in this highly anticipated Doha duel.

Obiri, the world 5000m and cross-country champion, set an African 3000m record of 8:20.68 in Doha in 2014, which was then broken in 2019 by Gidey, who ran 8:20.27.

Although Obiri leads their career head-to-head record at 9-5, world 5000m record-holder Gidey has finished ahead of Obiri twice in Doha: at the 2018 Diamond League meeting and at the 2019 World Championships over 10,000m.

Gidey smashed the world 5000m record in Valencia last year, clocking 14:06.62.

“I’m happy to start my season in Doha,” said Gidey, who in 2019 broke Obiri’s African 3000m record with 8:20.27. “It will be my first race as a world record-holder and I feel excited to see where I am in terms of condition. It will be a very important stepping stone towards the Olympic Games later in the season.”

Obiri, who defeated Gidey in their most recent clash over 5000m at the 2020 Monaco Diamond League, said: “After my half marathon debut in April (she ran 1:04:51 in Istanbul) I’m looking forward to getting back on the track, especially at the Doha Diamond League meeting where I will be going for my fourth 3000m win. I ran the Kenyan record there in 2014 (8:20) and the second-fastest 3000m in my career there last September (8:22).

“Doha is also the place where I won my last world title in 2019, but this year it is all about the Olympic Games as that is the only major gold medal that I’m missing and I’m working hard to change that this year. The 3000m and 5000m races are very competitive at the moment and I expect we will see some fast times in the next few months and in Tokyo.” – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman