Tuesday night’s Women’s 3000m Steeplechase final saw Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai win silver in front of a crowded Stade de France.
With a new National Record of 8:53.34, Chemutai finished second, just behind Bahrain’s Winfred Mutile Yavi (8:52.76).
Yavi broke the previous Olympic Record of 8:58.81 to win gold.
Faith Cherotich of Kenya won bronze with a strong third-place finish in 8:55.15, while Alice Finot of France placed fourth with her personal best time of 8:55.15.
“This is a dream come true. It has been such a hard journey to get to this point. In the final I was expecting something good. I just felt good about the race. I believed in myself, that I had that finishing speed,” Winfred Mutile Yavi, 3000m steeple chase winner at Paris 2024 Olympics said.
With her winning time of 8:52.76, Yavi has surpassed only Chepkoech and herself to become the fourth fastest performer of all time. In 2018, Chepkoech recorded a world record 8:44.32 in Monaco, whereas Yavi won in Eugene last September with a time of 8:50.66, besting Chepkoech’s 8:51.67.
The top ten all finished under 9:00.00 in Paris, with Cherotich, Finot, Almayew (9:00.83), and Chepkoech (9:04.24) coming in after them.
In seventh place, Elizabeth Bird broke the British record with a time of 9:04.35. Lomi Muleta of Ethiopia came in eighth, Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan came in ninth, and Lea Meyer of Germany came in tenth.
Uganda has now won two medals at the current 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
The first medal was gold, won by Joshua Cheptegei, who set an Olympic record in the men’s 10,000-meter race.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 3000m Steeplechase, Chemutai took home the gold medal.
Out of 206 countries, Uganda was ranked 33rd with one gold and one silver by Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday, August 7, 2024, the men’s 3000m steeple chase final is scheduled to take place.
