WCH Budapest 23 preview: 3000m steeplechase

Women's 3000m steeplechase

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With a gold medal at the 2021 World U20 Championships in Nairobi, and another at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Kenya’s Jackline Chepkoech is stepping up nicely into the senior ranks and positioning herself for a global title in 2023.

As the only woman to have run under nine minutes this season with her impressive PB, meeting record and world lead of 8:57.35 set en route to her triumph at the London Diamond League, the 19-year-old ran the race of her life to upstage the world record-holder in the event and her more experienced teammate, Beatrice Chepkoech, who was second in 9:04.34.

Prior to the London race, the pair had squared off in four other races: the Doha Diamond League, Kip Keino Classic, the Golden Gala in Rome and Kenyan Trials for the World Championships. Beatrice had finished ahead of Jackline in three of those races, so bridging that gap in London must have meant a lot to the 2022 World Athletics Rising Star award nominee who cannot wait to step into the shoes of the 2019 world champion.  

Having suffered injury setbacks in 2021 and 2022, which denied her medals at the Tokyo Olympics and last year’s World Championships in Oregon, the older Chepkoech now looks set to reclaim her exalted position. After taking the win in Lausanne in 9:05.98, she said: “I am really happy about today's race; I feel so good tonight. The goal is to now go to Budapest and do the best that I can”.

While the quest for dominance in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 may be aptly tagged ‘The battle of the Chepkoechs’, Kenya has another promising prospect in Faith Cherotich, who is the reigning world U20 champion in the event. Ranked seventh in the world with her time of 9:06.43, the 19-year-old will be making her maiden appearance at the World Championships but will lean on the experience of her teammates.

No Ethiopian woman has won gold in the 3000m steeplechase at the World Championships, but Sembo Almayew will seek to change that narrative when she lines up on the track of the National Athletics Centre. Boasting a personal best of 9:00.71, the second fastest time in the world this year, the world U20 silver medallist will hope to inspire her colleagues Zerfe Wondemagegn (9:04.61) and Mekides Abebe (9:11.09), who are ranked sixth and 18th respectively this year, to faster times and perhaps, a historic outing in Budapest. Abebe took the bronze in Oregon last year. 

Bahrain’s Winfred Mutile Yavi has come agonisingly close to securing a podium place after finishing fourth at both the 2019 and 2022 World Championships. She owns the fourth-fastest time in the world this year – 9:04.38 – which was set at the Doha Diamond League, where she dominated. This time around, she will target a top three finish at the championships.

London 2017 world gold medallist Emma Coburn, who inspired a 1-2 for the US at the time with Courtney Frerichs taking silver, will lead the US charge to Budapest. This time she will be joined by another Courtney (Wayment), as well as the reigning national champion Krissy Gear, who took over from Coburn, who has won a whopping 10 US titles between 2011 to 2022.

Ranked eighth this year and with a SB of 9:13.06, the bronze medallist from the Rio Olympics finished in eighth place in Oregon last year but will bank on her experience as she heads for her sixth World Championships, having made the final in every single one. Wayment comes with a SB of 9:11.41, and Gear with a PB of 9:12.81.

Others to look out for are three-time French champion Alice Finot (9:10.04), Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner Peruth Chemutai of Uganda (9:11.91), European champion Luiza Gega (9:11.94), and seventh-place finisher in both Oregon and the Commonwealth Games last year, Great Britain’s Aimee Pratt (9:16.10).

 

Men's 3000m steeplechase

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There’s a lot at stake for each of the major contenders for gold in the men’s 3000m steeplechase. For Lamecha Girma, this would be the right time to stamp his authority as one of the greatest in the event by adding the world title to his world record, having claimed silver medals at the 2019 and 2022 editions of the World Championships, as well as the Tokyo Olympics.

Also, no Ethiopian has won gold in the event in World Championships history. Instead, the Kenyans have dominated, with 13 gold medals claimed over a span of 18 editions of the competition. So Girma, who tops the global top lists with his astonishing world record of 7:52.11 set in Paris, would aim to enter the history books as the first athlete from his country to break that jinx.

For the Olympic and defending world champion Soufiane El Bakkali, who is the highest ranked in the event, setting a PB and meeting record of 7:56.68 at the Rabat Diamond League in a World Championships year – the second fastest time this year – underlines his depth and capacity to retain his gold medal from last year. He is also the only non-Kenyan African winner of the event and has all three shades of medals in his kitty.

Getnet Wale, who is second on the world rankings and comes to Budapest with a PB of 8:05.15, which he set while finishing second to the Moroccan in Rabat, finished fourth in Doha and Oregon as well as at the Tokyo Olympics. This would be the moment to step up and win a medal.

The 20-year-old Simon Kiprop Koech is out to prove that he’s ready to rub shoulders with the big boys. The bronze medallist from the 2021 World U20 Championships and new Kenyan champion stunned Olympic bronze medallist Benjamin Kigen to win his first senior race at the national championships in Nairobi. Unbeaten in his eight races over the distance this year, Koech smashed his PB to 8:04.19 while racing to his first ever Diamond League victory in Monaco. His new lifetime best helped him qualify for the World Championships.

He is in good company with teammates Abraham Kibiwot (who was third in Rabat), and Leonard Kipkemoi Bett, as the duo are also ranked among the top five in the event, with the former coming with a PB of 8:05.51 and the latter a season’s best of 8:09.45. The trio will aim to return Kenya to winning ways.

Girma and El Bakkali have clashed in three global finals, and the Moroccan currently has the upper hand with a 2-1 lead. Both athletes have met only once this year – at the Doha Diamond League – where the 22-year-old Ethiopian triumphed over his rival in the 3000m, with El Bakkali settling for fourth. A month later, Girma would run an imperious race to shatter Saif Saaeed Shaheen’s world record of 7:53.63 set in 2004. That was his second world record in 2023, Girma having also smashed Daniel Komen’s 25-year-old world indoor record in the 3000m in Lievin, with a time of 7:23.81.

It would appear that the title is Girma’s to lose, though he is yet to race since accomplishing his mind-blowing feat in Paris, and it remains to be seen what he has up his sleeves when he takes to the track in Budapest. However, the potency of El Bakkali’s fighting spirit and famous kick towards the finishing line cannot be taken for granted.  

Abrham Sime was part of the line up at the Monaco Diamond League won by Koech. Sime was inspired to a PB and the eighth fastest time in the world (8:10.56) after finishing third, while New Zealand’s George Beamish stormed to an Oceanian record of 8:13.26 in fifth place.

One of the youngsters to keep an eye on is seventh-place finisher at the Tokyo Olympics, Ryuji Miura, who sped to a Japanese record and the seventh-fastest time in the world (8:09.91) in the historic race in Paris where he secured second position. The 21-year-old will be looking forward to putting up a strong showing as he makes his World Championships debut. He was followed by Spanish champion David Arce, who clocked a PB of 8:10.63 in third.

Yemi Olus-Galadima for World Athletics