Hillary Yego Wins 2013 Weltklasse Zürich as Conseslus Kipruto Manages To Hang On To Diamond League Title
by LetsRun.com
August 29, 2013
The men’s steeplechase at the Weltklasse Zürich meet ended up really being two races within a single race. On the last lap, up front, Kenyans Hillary Yego and Jairus Birech were battling for the win although Yego ended up winning this one very comfortably in 8:08.03 to Birech’s 8:08.72.
Behind them in third, 19-year old World Championship silver medallist Conseslus Kipruto was desperately trying to hang on to his third place position as a third place finish would secure him the 2013 Diamond League series title and $40,000.
In the end, Kipruto found just enough to hang on to third in 8:10.76 as France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad ended up fourth in 8:11.11. It was a well deserved DL title for Kipruto as in the middle of this race, he’d pushed the pace to keep it honest so there wouldn’t be many people around him to possibly kick him out of a third place finish.
Conseslus Kipruto, in Shanghai earlier this year, your 2013 DL champ
2011, 2012 and 2013 gold medallist Ezekiel Kemboi was a non-factor in this one as he was dropped before the 2k mark. Once he fell off, he totally packed it in and was tenth in 8:37.68. It was also a long day for Canada’s Matt Hughes, who ran a Canadian national record of 8:11.64 to place sixth at Worlds, as Hughes only managed an 8:33.00 today.
Quick Take #1: Yego also got the win in Stockholm last Thursday. Had Kipruto faltered, Yego would have been your DL champ. Who is he you ask?
Well he’s just 21 and has good credentials to his name. He was the 2009 World Youth champion. In 2011, at age 19 he ran 8:07.71. Earlier this year, he achieved his pr of 8:03.57 in Shanghai in May.
It will be interesting to see if he ends up being the next Paul Kipsiele Koech – a great steepler who rarely gets on a Kenyan team as he struggles at altitude. At altitude at the Kenyan trials this year, Yego was just 11th in 8:43.8. Last year, he was just 9th in 8:46.54. At the world junior trials in 2010 at altitude, he only ran 8:41.3.
QT #2: Yego got the win here no doubt but the last lap was very modest – roughly 64.2 – which pales to the 58 that Kipruto ran in Eugene to win or the 56-high-57 flat equivalent that Kemboi unleashed to win in Moscow. Yego is certainly a promising guy to look out for in the future but his last two wins have been much more the result of the big players in the event being very tired.
QT #3: Seeing all of the big names struggle here and in Stockholm makes Evan Jager‘s decision to not steeple any more this year seem a little bit wiser after all, doesn it?
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Result | Diamond Points | Diamond Ranking | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
KEN
|
8:08.03
|
14
|
2
|
|||
|
2
|
KEN
|
8:08.72
|
SB
|
5
|
4
|
||
|
3
|
KEN
|
8:10.76
|
15
|
1
|
 |
||
|
4
|
FRA
|
8:11.11
|
3
|
8
|
|||
|
5
|
KEN
|
8:12.93
|
4
|
7
|
|||
|
6
|
KEN
|
8:24.19
|
5
|
4
|
|||
|
7
|
KEN
|
8:25.85
|
4
|
6
|
|||
|
8
|
CAN
|
8:33.00
|
|||||
|
9
|
ETH
|
8:35.08
|
|||||
|
10
|
KEN
|
8:37.68
|
6
|
3
|
|||
|
11
|
FRA
|
8:44.11
|
|||||
|
KEN
|
DNF
|
||||||
|
MDA
|
DNF
|
||||||