ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S elite athletes Kemi Adekoya and Nelly Jepkosgei both put in strong performances in their respective events at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial-Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix, held in Budapest, Hungary.
Adekoya took third place in the women’s 400 metres hurdles while Jepkosgei finished fourth in the women’s 1,500m.
The meeting was a Gold-level event on this year’s World Athletics Continental Tour.
Adekoya finished her race in a time of 54.18 seconds, coming home behind winner Jasmine Jones of the US, who claimed first place in 52.91s, and Rushell Clayton of Jamaica, who took second in 53.34s.
Adekoya’s mark was still far from her season’s best of 53.67s, which she clocked last month, and her personal best of 53.09s, which is the current Asian and national record.
In Jepkosgei’s race, she finished in a time of four minutes 02.88 seconds. Abbey Caldwell of Australia won in 4:01.79, while her compatriot Claudia Hollingsworth finished second in 4:02.09. Just ahead of Jepkosgei was Mirriam Cherop of Kenya, who crossed the line just seven-tenths quicker in 4:02.15.
Jepkosgei’s run in Budapest came just about a fortnight after she set her new personal best in the distance of 3:57.61.
Aside from racing on athletics’ international circuit this year, both Adekoya and Jepkosgei are expected to be amongst the top medal hopefuls of Bahrain’s athletics national team at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, scheduled for September 19 to October 4.
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