World 10K Bengaluru: Sarah and Joshua emerge victorious; Abhishek, Sanjivani lead India's challenge

Bengaluru, April 27 (IANS) It was a day of delight for the Ugandan runners, as Sarah Chelangat and Joshua Cheptegei took home the top prize in their respective sections in TCS World 10K, a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race, held here on Sunday. Incidentally, they were the first athletes from their country to take home the World 10K titles, along with a prize of USD 26,000 each.

When the women took the starting line-up at 5:30 am, a big question arose in the minds of fans and followers as eight of the best women with personal best timings faster than the event records set their foot on the Bengaluru roads. However, Sarah had a different strategy in mind as she broke away from the rest of the runners after the first two kilometres and maintained the lead thereafter.

Sarah could easily be mistaken for a Kenyan, as Chelangat is a popular family name among them. She increased her pace once she parted from the rest of the field and passed through the halfway mark at 15:23. At that stage, it was 20 seconds faster than that of Cintia and Ethiopians Guteni Shanko and Asmarech Anley. The gap started widening bigger and bigger thereafter, as Sarah had not looked back to see where her rivals were at any point in the race.

With no one to push her, Sarah had to run her race and missed out on the event record by well over 30 seconds. She touched the tape at 31:07. Cintia had to fight it out with Guteni for the runners-up position, as less than two seconds separated them at the finish.

It was a big break for Sarah, a double gold medallist in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and a 2024 Paris Olympic finalist in 10,000m. With age on her side (23), the Ugandan runner is expected to achieve more.

After a post-race press briefing, Sarah said, “When we were running, I felt the pace was a bit slow. I thought, why don’t I push and try to finish in the first position. I came in feeling confident and believing I must win the race”.

Unlike the women, the men's runners engaged in a keen battle. In the first phase of the race, a group of a dozen runners ran together. Midway, the lead bunch reduced to six as Tanzania's Gabriel Geay led the runners at 14:01.

With their mark at 5K seeming slower, they did not show any trend to break the event record. The men had only the ambition of winning left in their minds. With that mindset, they exchanged the lead among themselves in the next few kilometres.

Five men, including Joshua, crossed the 8K mark together in 22:35 with Kenya's Vincent Nyamongo lagging six seconds behind.

With the finish fast approaching, Joshua increased his tempo, as did Eritrean teenager Saymon Tesfagiorgis Amanuel. The 17-year-old Saymon has already clocked the Eritrean best in 10K (27:10) while finishing second at Lille, just last month.

Realising the threat from the youth, Joshua ran all-out in the waning stages to finish first in 27:53. Saymon took the second spot two seconds later. At the same time, Kenyan Vincent Lagat sprinted to third position in 28:02, and Geay finished fourth at 28:03.

“Coming in as the favourite also puts a lot of pressure, especially when you have a lot of experience. If you look at my personal best, I am the fastest on the track, but that was a long time ago. When you look at guys like Vincent, Gabriel and young boys like Saymon, it’s a tough competition. Besides running for the time you have to run for the position”, Johua revealed after the race.

“I’ve noticed the young boys were very aggressive in the race today. This is world-class running. My advice to younger runners is that patience pays; it may be painful, but it always pays”, he added.

The 17-year-old who ran his fourth international race, said, “It was a big privilege for me to run with Joshua. It was very challenging to race with someone like him.”

In normal circumstances, top distance runners would not race major events in short gaps. However, Abhishek Pal and Sanjivani Jadhav showed exceptional courage to finish on top among Indians just a few days after running with top-class athletes during the Federation Cup under the scorching sun in Kochi, a qualifying competition for the upcoming Asian Championships in Korea.

Abhishek, an Asian championship bronze medalist in 2023, improved his 10K best to 29:12 to finish seventh overall. His earlier 10K best also came in the TCS World 10K, when he clocked 30:05 here in 2022. Sawan Barwal, who joined Abhishek in the Indian Team to Gumi, clocked an impressive 29:45 on his 10K debut.

The highly experienced Sanjivani, who secured two gruelling distance running double in Kochi, was a bit slower than her last year's winning time in Bengaluru while retaining the top spot among women in 34:16.

The top Indian finishers were awarded Rs 3,00,000 each for their efforts while Abhishek Pal also walked away with Rs 100,000 for setting a new event record.

--IANS

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