Uganda's Chemutai through to Olympic women's 3,000 steeplechase final
TOKYO OLYMPICS
Uganda's Peruth Chemutai endured the searing heat of Tokyo on Sunday to qualify for the final of the women's 3,000m steeplechase at the ongoing pandemic-delayed 2020 Olympic Games.
Racing under a brutal 39 degrees Celsius in Japan's capital, the 22-year-old stamped her authority in the first of three heats inside a sparsely-occupied Olympic Stadium to advance automatically.
Cheered on by only a handful of spectators (mostly delegations and coaches) allowed in the venue due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Chemutai's group of 14 had to not only battle each other for three automatic qualification spots, but also brave the sweltering temperatures on a gloriously warm day thousands of miles away from home.
Chemutai, who did not make it past the heats at the Rio Games five years ago, was more than keen to have history not repeat itself in Tokyo.
As soon as they were fired off, she surged forward, and a couple of hundreds of metres into the contest, she was leading the pack - a position she was never ready to surrender for most of the seven-and-a-half laps of the course featuring hurdle obstacles, Read more...
