ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S elite athlete Nelly Jepkosgei claimed an impressive third-place finish in the women’s 800 metres at the Grifone Meeting in Asti, Italy.
She completed her two-lap run in a time of one minute 59.54 seconds. Jepkosgei finished narrowly behind the Kenyan pair of Naomi Korir and Vivian Chebet Kiprotich, who were first and second, respectively, with identical times of 1:59.19.
It was the third race of the season for Jepkosgei, having also run the 800m in races in Nairobi, Kenya in April and in Dubai earlier this month. She clocked her season’s best of 1:58.93 in her Nairobi run, which is also her personal best.
In the same competition, Bahrain’s Bontu Rebitu placed sixth in the women’s 5,000 metres. She posted a finishing time of 15:34.19, more than half-a-minute behind winner Esther Chebet of Uganda, who won in 15:00.18. Italy’s Federica Del Buono was the runner-up in 15:00.90, and Meseret Yeshaneh of Ethiopia came third in 15:13.68.
Rebitu ran for the third time in the distance this year and her mark was her best so far of 2024. It is still far, however, from her personal record of 15:02.222, which she set last year in Algiers, Algeria.
The Grifone Meeting was a Challenger-level competition held as part of this year’s World Athletics Continental Tour.
Meanwhile, Bahraini sprinter Rashid Abdulraouf came sixth in his preliminary round heat in the men’s 100m at the NCAA Division One West First Rounds meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the US.
Abdulraouf clocked a time of 10.45 seconds in the fourth of six heats. Nolton Shelvin of the US won in 10.23s, fellow-American Shawn Collins followed in 10.29s, and Jamaican Ricquan Graham came third in 10.32s.
&uuid=(email))