•Bahrain and Kazakhstan, neither of which has ever won a World Championships medal in this event, look to hold the two aces in the women’s steeplechase pack in Winfred Mutile Yavi and Norah Jeruto.
•The Kenyan-born duo have been in sparkling form so far this season, and they were a class apart when taking on most of their main rivals at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene in May.
Image: File
Kenyan women parade in the 3,000m steeplechase as the World Athletics Championships enter Day two in Eugene, Oregon.
In the relatively brief history of this event, with eight editions since 2005, five different nations have struck gold in the women’s 3000m steeplechase and there looks a huge chance for a sixth to join that list in Oregon.
Bahrain and Kazakhstan, neither of which has ever won a World Championships medal in this event, look to hold the two aces in the women’s steeplechase pack in Winfred Mutile Yavi and Norah Jeruto.
The Kenyan-born duo have been in sparkling form so far this season, and they were a class apart when taking on most of their main rivals at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene in May.
Jeruto proved the stronger, clocking a world lead of 8:57.97 to beat Yavi (8:58.71). Before that, Jeruto had clocked a highly impressive 9:04.95 at altitude in Nairobi.
The 26-year-old has never won a global medal at senior level but she was the world U18 champion back in 2011.
She missed last year’s Tokyo Olympics while in the process of transferring allegiance from Kenya to Kazakhstan, but weeks after the Games she moved to third on the world all-time list with her 8:53.65 in Eugene.
Hayward Field is a stadium that clearly brings out the best in her, but can she produce the same magic in the absence of pacemakers?
Yavi will certainly be hoping to turn the tables and earn her first global medal, having finished eighth in the world final in 2017, fourth in 2019 and 10th in last year’s Olympic final. She was ultra-impressive in Paris a few weeks ago when bettering Jeruto’s world lead with her winning time of 8:56.55.
Ethiopia’s best result in the women’s steeplechase at these championships was the bronze won by Sofia Assefa in 2013 but in Mekides Abebe, the 20-year-old who was fourth in the Olympic final last year, they have an athlete capable of bettering that. She finished third to Jeruto and Yavi in Eugene in May in 9:03.26.
Just behind her there was an athlete who we know can handle the white-hot heat of a major championship: Peruth Chemutai.
Uganda won gold when this event was first staged at the World Championships in 2005 through Dorcus Inzikuru but they haven’t reached the podium since, although Chemutai looks capable of fixing that.
The 23-year-old turned in the run of her life to win Olympic gold in Tokyo last year in a national record of 9:01.45 and she finished a close fourth behind her chief rivals in Eugene earlier in the year in 9:05.54.
Werkuha Getachew and Sembo Almayew are two Ethiopians worthy of much respect.
Getachew won the African title last month and finished fifth in Eugene in May in a PB of 9:07.81, while 17-year-old Almayew was a late call-up to the national team and this should be the first of many appearances on the global stage. She clocked a PB of 9:09.19 to finish second to Yavi last month in Paris.
Kenya has claimed three of the last four women’s steeplechase titles at the World Championships and their chances here will be carried by Celliphine Chespol, Jackline Chepkoech, Beatrice Chepkoech, and Purity Kirui.
Beatrice Chepkoech gains an entry as defending world champion, though it’s difficult to assess her current form of the world record-holder as she has run the event just once this year, clocking 9:28.34 at altitude to win in Nairobi in April, which she followed up with a below-par 8:50.74 3000m run in Doha in May.
Chespol set a world U20 record of 8:58.78 back in 2017 and is the quickest of the Kenyan quartet this year with the 9:10.17 she ran in Eugene, but she was beaten comprehensively by Jackline Chepkoech at their national trials.
On home soil, the US trio of Emma Coburn, Courtney Frerichs and Courtney Wayment are sure to put up a strong showing.
Coburn, the 2017 world champion, endured bitter disappointment in Tokyo last year but she looked back to her best self when winning her 10th US title last month in 9:10.63, and history has shown the 31-year-old always finds an extra gear when it comes to major championships. She won Olympic bronze in 2016, World Championships gold in 2017 and World Championships silver in 2019.
Following Coburn home, there was Wayment, the reigning NCAA champion who clocked a PB of 9:12.10 in that race. Back in third was Frerichs, who clocked 9:16.18 and whose form is steadily coming to the boil – once again – for when it matters most.
The 29-year-old went to Tokyo last year with a season’s best of 9:11.79 before producing a stunning effort to win Olympic silver in 9:04.79 and as a world silver medallist in 2017, she has the experience to again be in the mix at the front end.