Virginia Nyambura Nganga who until last year only ran as a pacemaker, registered another huge win. This time it was at the Athlettisma Diamond meet in Lausanne. This was the third diamond league win for the 21 year old Nyambura. In the process she beat Hiwot Ayalew of Ethiopia and Emma Coburn of the USA into the second and third place respectively. It is a big win because Ayalew and Coburn were the two athletes who dominated this event last year along with Sofia Assefa. Last year Coburn set a new American record at 9:11.42. And At USA championships a few weeks ago, Emma Coburn ran 9:15.59 in oppressively hot conditions.
The race came down to the last lap where the three were neck and neck. Nyambura and Ayalew started to open a little gap on Coburn on the backstretch.Ayalew was leading at the back straight before Nyambura tracked her down despite leaping with an unorthodox style that would make a youth coach cringe.
Ruth Jebet who defected to Bahrain was 4th. Lidya Chepkurui was 6th. Caroline Tuigong, who shone brilliantly at the world youth championships years ago then dissappeared, appears to be making a comeback. She was 7th.
| POS | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia Nyambura Nganga | 9:16.99 | 4 | |||
| 2 | Hiwot Ayalew | 9:17.22 | 2 | |||
| 3 | Emma Coburn | 9:20.67 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Ruth Jebet | 9:26.87 | ||||
| 5 | Tigist Getnet | 9:31.53 | ||||
| 6 | Lidya Chepkurui | 9:33.03 | ||||
| 7 | Caroline Chepkurui Tuigong | 9:34.15 | ||||
| 8 | Sviatlana Kudzelich | 9:35.42 | ||||
| 9 | Birtukan Fente | 9:39.97 | ||||
| 10 | Bridget Franek | 9:40.53 | ||||
| 11 | Colleen Quigley | 9:42.53 |
Other Races
In the women’s 1500m, Faith Kipyegon finished second to Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands while the previously unbeaten Jenny Simpson of the USA was third. Mercy Cherono was 4th. Completely missing from the scene this season is Hellen Obiri who won several diamond league races in 2014.
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