Chebet leads Kenya’s clean sweep in Spain Cross Country Tour Gold meet
World cross-country champion Beatrice Chebet led a 1-2-3 finish for Kenyan athletes as they dominated the Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza - a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting - in the Spanish town of Elgoibar on Sunday.
Fresh from breaking the women’s world 5km record at the Cursa dels Nassos road race in Barcelona and despite a rainy and muddy surface, the 23-year-old Chebet managed to pull away in the closing stages and close the finish tape with a time of 26:08.
Chebet was closely followed by compatriots, Edinah Jebitok, who finished second in 26:10 while Grace Nawowuna clocked 26:25 to finish third. British trio Lauren Hall, Sarah Astin, and Niamh Brown were three seconds behind while Spain’s Irene Sánchez-Escribano, Carolina Robles, and Isabel Barreiro ran another couple of seconds adrift.
Chebet took command of the women’s 7.62km race from the start and covered the opening lap on the track in 1:18 with just Jebitok and Nawowuna plus Ethiopia’s Asmarech Anley for company.
Chebet’s relentless pace - 3:19 and 3:21 for the first two kilometres on a far-from-ideal circuit - soon paid off and Anley could not live with that pace, leaving the Kenyan contingent as a lead trio out in front. Chebet gradually increased her speed and clocked 7:02 for the penultimate lap.
