Kirui strikes gold for Kenya in men’s marathon
Geoffrey Kirui won the first gold medal for Kenya at the 2017 IAAF World Championships after winning the men’s marathon on Sunday.
The 24 year old won the race in an impressive time of 2:08:27 followed by Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola while Alphonce Simbu of Tanzania settled for bronze medal.
Simbu becomes the first Tanzanian ever to win a marathon medal at either the Olympic Games or the athletics World Championships.
Gold for Kenya!
Geoffrey Kirui judges his marathon to perfection to take the #IAAFworlds title in London
2 Tola ETH
3 Simbu TAN pic.twitter.com/Y6qadVzlJT— IAAF (@iaaforg) August 6, 2017
Kirui’s efforts were immediately applauded by a number of Kenyans on social media, led by Cabinet Secretary for Sports Hassan Wario.
Congratulations Kirui on the #Gold delivery for Kenya in #London2017 [ Pic courtesy @iaaforg] pic.twitter.com/cCZfEj9dAl
— Dr. Hassan Wario,EGH (@AreroWario) August 6, 2017
Crucially, Kirui’s medal saw Kenya provisionally move from eighth place in the medal standings to third behind the USA and South Africa.
This is Kenya’s third medal in the championships following Paul Tanui’s bronze medal in the men’s 10,000m on the opening day and Agnes Jebet’s bronze in the women’s 10,000m on Saturday night.
Kenya will have a chance to increase her medals haul later on Sunday evening in the women’s marathon which will be contested from 4pm Kenyan time.
