There was a double Ethiopian victory at the World Athletics Continental Gold Tour as Diribe Welteji and Lemecha Girma won both women’s and men’s 1500m races in Ostrava on Tuesday.
The women’s 1500m also saw three Ethiopian athletes complete the podium in the race. But it was Diribi that impresses the most.
The 2018 world U20 800m champion ran confidently from the front from the penultimate lap.
She held off the persistence of fellow Ethiopians Hirut Meshesha and Tigist Girma for a meeting record of 3:57.38.
Hirut and Tigist finished were rewarded with a season’s best and a personal best respectively, as they chased through for second and third in 3:57.87 and 3:59.33, according to the sports governing body World Athletics World Athletics (WA).
Also in the 2023 Golden Spike, the world 3000m steeplechase record holder Lamecha Girma won the men’s 1500m with a bizarre finish.
Lamecha tracked the pacemakers all the way, seeking a quick time. But he looked to have underestimated the opposition when George Mills, Mafori Ryan Mphahlele and Isaac Nader streamed by, heading into the final straight.
But the steeplechaser’s strength told and he reeled them back to edge the win in 3:33.15, clipping 0.62 off his lifetime best.
South Africa’s Mphahelele was second in 3:33.38 and UK’s Mills was third in 3:33.85
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