The women’s 3000m steeplechase field in Paris was as close to a rematch of the final in Rio as one could get, with the full top-5 and seven of the top-9 finishers from Rio toeing the line at Stade France. Rio champion Ruth Jebet was content to initially follow pacemaker and Personae teammate Caroline Tuigong Chepkurui, who passed the 1000m in 2:56.36, well under the pace of Gulnara Galkina‘s world record of 8:58.81 (’08 Beijing Games). Once Jebet assumed the lead early into the second kilometer, only Olympic runner-up Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi was in immediate contact, with the rest of the field well behind the two front runners. Shortly after the fourth lap, Kiyeng started to lose contact, and when Jebet reached the 2000m mark in 5:54.16, still on WR pace, the gap on her pursuer had grown to over 3 seconds. Jebet would continue to increase her lead the entire last kilometer, which she covered in 2:58.66, to produce the new world record of 8:52.78. The Rio women’s steeplechase top-5 remarkably also finished in the same order in Paris, with Hyving runner-up in 9:01.96, Emma Coburn 3rd in 9:10.19, Beatrice Chepkoech 4th in 9:10.86, and Sofia Assefa 5th in 9:13.09. Jebet now owns three of history’s four fastest steeple performances, all set this season (8:59.75 – Rio; 8:59.97 – DL Eugene).
Other Personae-managed athletes with noteworthy results in the past week’s Diamond League action in Lausanne (25-Aug) and Paris included Alfred Kipketer (1st in Paris 800m in personal best of 1:42.87, moving him to 3rd on the ’16 world chart and 9th on the All-Time Kenya 800m performers chart); Philip Milanov (1st in Lausanne Discus in 65.61m, moving him to 3rd in the DL Discus Points Race); Nicholas Bett (2nd in Lausanne 3000m SC in personal best and ’16 world no. 8 time of 8:10.07); Ferguson Rotich (4th in Paris 800m in season best and ’16 world no. 8 time of 1:43.43, increasing his lead in the DL 800m Points Race); Albert Rop (5th in Paris 3000m and ’16 world no. 5 time of 7:32.02, improving his own Bahrain national record); and Virginia Nyambura (7th in Paris 3000m SC in season best and ’16 world no. 11 time of 9:18.95.
The ’16 Diamond League season will conclude with the Weltklasse Zurich on 1-September and Memorial van Damme (Brussels) on 9-September.