Bahrain yesterday had another outstanding day in athletics events at the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The kingdom’s athletes grabbed two gold and one silver medals to take their tally to 11 medals in total – six gold, two silver and three bronze – thus moving up to eighth place among 33 nations competing at the games.
Bahrain’s first victory was marked by Ruth Jebet, who battled to a second gold medal in the Games.
The long-distance star clinched victory after edging Turkey’s Yasemin Can in a thrilling women’s 5,000m final at Baku Olympic Stadium.
Jebet strolled to gold in the 3,000m steeplechase on Wednesday, but she was pushed all the way yesterday after a superb effort from training partner Can.
Can, the European 5,000 and 10,000m champion, attacked on the final lap, but the Olympic steeplechase champion responded superbly to edge ahead on the final straight as she won in 14 minutes and 53.41 seconds.
The Turkish runner had to make do with silver despite running with great skill, as she finished just nine hundredths of a second adrift of Jebet.
UAE athlete Alia Mohammed rounded off the podium winning the bronze medal after a strong challenge from Kyrgyzstan’s Daria Maslova.
Bahrain’s second gold medal of the day was captured by Odiong Edidiong, who raced to victory in the women’s 200m final.
The short-distance runner completed the race in 22.95 seconds, edging Gina Bass of Gamia and Nigina Sharipova of Uzbekistan, who settled for the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Yaqoob Salem (20.56 seconds) completed the kingdom’s fortune winning the men’s 200m silver after a tough battle with gold medallist Ramil Guliev (20.08) of Turkey.
Earlier yesterday, Bahrain’s Oluwakemi Adekoya breezed into the women’s 400m final to remain on track for a Baku double. The Bahraini, who won the 400m hurdles gold on Wednesday, ran 51.46 seconds to blitz through her heat to qualify for today’s final.
Adekoya, along with compatriot Salwa Nassr, will both compete today in the gold medal race at 5.20pm (Bahrain time).
Another Bahraini, Salwa Eid Naser, was the only athlete to get close to Adekoya’s time, as the 2015 world youth champion posted 51.94 seconds to win her heat. Nigeria’s Folasade Abigeal Abugan won the other heat.
Abraham Rotish, John Kibet and Evans Chematot were unable to follow suit as they failed to grab podium in their respective challenges.
Rotish finished last in the men’s 800m final where he reached the end in 1:47.46, two seconds less than gold medallist Mostafa Smaili of Morocco, while Kibet (8:34.27) and Chamatot (8:48.46) ended fourth and sixth, respectively, in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase final, which saw another Moroccan Mohamed Tindouft (8:26.26) stroll away to win gold.