Kenya kicked off their athletics campaign and three Kenyans Betsy Saina, Alice Nawowunah and two-time world championship gold medalist Vivian Cheruiyot took to the stage in the 10000m women’s final.Vivian Cheruiyot scooped Kenya’s first medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics after settling for Silver in a race that saw Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana finish first and set a new world record of 29:17.26, while former Olympic record holder Tirunesh Dibaba finished third leaving Kenyan Alice Nawowunah in forth place.
Another category involving Kenyans today was the Round 1 of the 800M race as Kenya completed a hat trick of qualifications to the semifinals.
The first Kenyan to go through was teenager Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich after finishing second to European champion Adam Kszczot of Poland in Heat 2.
Heat 3 of round 1 was the most anticipated one, as it featured world record holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha.
He delivered as usual by finishing first clocking 1:45.10 ahead of South African Rynardt Rensburg and British Michael Rimmer who also qualified for the semifinals.
Another teenager Alfred Kipketer completed a qualification hat trick for Kenya as he finished first in heat 4 with a time of 1:46.62 ahead of Danish Andreas Bube and Algerian Yassin Hethat who finished second and third respectively.
