Ruth Chepngetich beats heat to win marathon at Doha worlds

Doha, Sep 28 (IANS) Top ranked Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya lived up to the expectations as she overcame sweltering and humid weather conditions to win the gold medal of the women’s marathon, which finished here on Saturday.She clocked 2:32:43 in testing heat and humidity to earn her first major gold on the floodlit Corniche. “I am feeling good,” the official website of IAAF quoted the 25-year-old as saying. “I am very happy and I thank God for my win.”

Asked about the conditions, she responded: “It was not bad for me!”Bahrain’s defending champion Rose Chelimo won the silver medal as she clocked 2:33:46, 63 seconds back and bronze went to Namibia’s Commonwealth champion Helalia Johannes in 2:34:15.Kenya’s 2011 and 2013 world champion and 2017 silver medallist Edna Kiplagat missed out on another medal by one agonising place having tracked the lead for the bulk of the race. Her time in a race where the top 10 finishers qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Games was 2:35:36.A total of 23 of the 68 starters fail to finish the race and the biggest surprise was the fact that all three Ethiopian runners dropped out before the race got past halfway.

–IANSaak/dpb