BAHRAIN’S Edidiong Ofonime Odiong made history yesterday after winning a gold medal in the women’s 200 metres at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Edidiong used an impressive finish to win her race and become Bahrain’s first-ever world champion in the sprints at the global under-20 level.
With her result, Edidiong helped the Bahraini team sign off on a positive note from the biennial competition. Bahrain have won three other medals from the event, including two silver medals and one bronze medal.
Tigist Getnet won a silver medal in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Dalila Abdulkadir Gosa claimed her silver in the women’s 3,000m and Bontu Rebitu won a bronze in the women’s 5,000m.
In the women’s 200m final held yesterday, Edidiong put in a superb run to finish well ahead of the field in 22.84 seconds. She had more than one reason to celebrate at the end, as her time was also a new personal best and national under-20 record.
“I started well but I wasn’t sure if the others were going to catch me,” said Edidiong, who is a part of the Bahrain team that will be competing at next month’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “My opponents were the best junior runners in the world so you never know what will happen.”
Edidiong’s achievement in the 200m sprint followed the success of fellow-Bahraini Ruth Jebet at the previous world under-20 event in the US two years ago. Ruth claimed the women’s steeplechase gold at the meeting.
Also yesterday in Bydgoszcz, Bontu clinched her bronze medal in the women’s 5,000m with a time of 15:31.93.
Kalkidan Fentie of Ethiopia won the gold medal in 15:29.64, while Emmaculate Chepkirui of Kenya finished narrowly ahead of Bontu in 15:31.12.
Bontu’s teammate Dalila was also competing in the same event. She completed the distance in 15:38.56 to classify seventh from 18 starters.
Earlier on Wednesday, on the second day of the competition, Dalila won a silver in the women’s 3,000m. Dalila clinched her medal in 8:46.42, which was a new personal best and new Bahrain under-20 record. Beyenu Degefa of Ethiopia won gold in 8:41.76, while Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany clinched the bronze.
Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Tigist won her silver medal on Friday in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final. She finished the race in 9:34.08. Celliphine Chepteek Chespol of Kenya was the gold medalist in 9:25.15 and Agrie Belchew of Ethiopia the bronze-medallist in 9:37.17.