Friday 24th March - Athletics Day 6

Friday night, Day 6 of the Athletics program, at the MCG was Kenya's night. Three event finals and three victories for the East African country. On display was the running of the Men's 3000m SteepleChase as well as the Women's 800m and 5000m Finals take place.

The Men's SteepleChase at Global Championship events has long been the under 'title deed' of Kenya and the Melbourne 2006 Games were to prove no different, with their athletes sweeping the board with the first 3 places. The winner was, Athens 2004 champion, Ezekiel Kemboi in a time 8:18.17.

In the 800m, Janeth Jepkosgei (Kenya) came to the fore with a most convincing display of tactical and power running, producing her devastating kick at the right time. Her winning time was 1:57.88.

The Women's 5000m saw another Kenyan winner in the form of Isabella Ochichi who capped her country's evening of flag swirling with a winning time of 14:57.84 ahead of England's Joanne Pavey.

Also on the program was the running of the 2 heats [semi-finals] in the Men's 1500m. see results below

800m Men Winner Ezekiel Kemboi Kenya Time 8:18.17
The Kenyan dominance of the Men's 3000m SteepleChase continued with the 1-2-3 finish of their country's athletes. Ezekiel Kemboi led the first 3 finsihers all under 8:20 with less than 2 seconds seperating them.

In 2002, he was 2nd behind Stephen Cherono, who is these days known as Saif Saeed Shaheen of Qatar. Shaheen has dominated the event winning in Helsinki 2005, however he will not be making the Steeple his first choice in 2006, thus giving Kemboi a chance to attack the World Record on his own terms.

Results : Men's 3000m SteepleChase final

01. Ezekiel Kemboi (Kenya) 8:18.17
02. Wesley Kiprotich Koech (Kenya) 8:19.38
03. Reuben Kosgei (Kenya) 8:19.82
04. Martin Dent (Australia) 8:28.98 PB
05. Stuart Stokes (England) 8:29.94
06. Peter Nowill (Australia) 8:30.59
07. Ruben Ramolefi (South Africa) 8:35.91
08. Matthew Kerr (Canada) 8:38.97
09. Adam Bowden (England) 8:43.08
10. Ali Mkhabela (South Africa) 8:56.67
11. Youcef Abdi (Australia) 9:02.22
12. Luke Gunn (England) 9:08.02
13. Sapolai Yao (Papua New Guinea) 9:40.79
---. Kevin Sheppard (Scotland) DNF

Splits below

800m Women Winner Janeth Jepkosgei Kenya Time 1:57.88
The Women's 800m was realisation of the talent of the winner Janeth Jepkosgei of Kenya. She played a wily game waiting for the opportune moment to attack the frontrunning pair of Jamaica's Kenia Sinclair and defending Champion from Manchester 2002, Mozambique's Maria Mutola.