ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S world and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi is set to compete in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase tomorrow at the Oslo Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway.
Yavi is one of nine gold-medallists from the Paris 2024 Olympics who will be appearing in the meeting, which is a Wanda Diamond League event.
The Wanda Diamond League is the premier one-day meeting series held annually under World Athletics, track and field’s international governing body. After a season of competing and earning points to qualify for the finals, the top athletes aim for the Diamond Trophy – the athletics campaign’s most prestigious yearly crown.
Yavi is a former Diamond Trophy winner, having clinched the honour in 2023. She is aiming to repeat that feat, and has so far had a strong start to her campaign in the series, having finished as runner-up in the Doha stop in May, where she clocked a mark of nine minutes 05.26 seconds.
Oslo will mark only the second race for the 25-year-old superstar this outdoor athletics season.
Being the top-ranked woman worldwide in the 3,000m steeplechase, Yavi is set to be one of the favourites, but she will be facing a high-quality field. Her competitors include world number two Faith Cherotich of Kenya, who was the winner in the Qatari capital in 9:05.08, as well as world number seven Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan, world number eight Marwa Bouzayani of Tunisia, world number nine Gesa Felicitas Krause of Germany, and world number 10 Gabrielle Jennings of the US, amongst others.
There are a total of 16 athletes in the steeplechase.
Yavi heads to the Oslo meet with a personal best of 8:44.39, which she set last year and which is an Asian and Bahraini record. It is also the second-fastest time ever in the discipline.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew, another elite distance-running specialist, will also be competing in the Oslo Bislett Games in the men’s 5,000m.
Balew will be appearing for the second time in this year’s Wanda Diamond League after also running the same race in Doha last month, when he finished an impressive third in 13:17.70.
The 29-year-old earlier this year made his competitive debut on the road, where he ran a new Asian record over 10 kilometres of 26:54 in Germany.
Balew is one of the underdogs heading into tomorrow’s event. He too will be up against many of the best in the sport, including world number three Hagos Gebrhiwet and world number five Yomif Kejelcha, both of Ethiopia, world number seven Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu of Switzerland, and world numbers eight and nine, Nicholas Kipkorir and Jacob Krop, both of Kenya.
There are a total of 17 entrants in the men’s 5,000m. Balew’s current personal best is 12:56.26, which he set in 2019 in Italy.
Both Yavi and Balew are expected to be amongst the kingdom’s top athletes who will be competing at this year’s World Athletics Championships, set to take place in Tokyo from September 13 to 21.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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