Olympic bronze medallist Faith Cherotich is bullish ahead of the 2025 World Championships after storming to a commanding victory in her first major outing of the season at the Doha Diamond League.
In what was billed as a Paris Olympics rematch, Cherotich outkicked Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain in the home straight to claim her second career win over the Bahraini.
The 20-year-old Kenyan stopped the clock at a world-leading 9:05.08. Yavi timed 9:05.26 for second with Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew third in 9:09.27. Uganda's Chemutai faded out to finish seventh in 9:15.55.
The women’s 3,000m steeplechase is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling events of the season, with the fierce rivalry among Cherotich, Yavi and Chemutai.
It was a psychological blow for Yavi, who had dominated recent head-to-heads—including her stunning 8:52.76 at the Paris Olympics, narrowly ahead of Chemutai (8:53.34), with Cherotich claiming the bronze in 8:55.15.
Yavi followed it up with another victory in 8:44.39 at the Rome Golden Gala in August, where she led Chemutai (8:48.03) and Cherotich (8:57.65) in a lightning-fast finish.
But the Kenyan prodigy flipped the script at the Brussels Diamond League Final, racing to a breakthrough 9:02.36 win ahead of Yavi (9:02.87) and Chemutai (9:07.60), setting the stage for a thrilling build-up to Tokyo.
With her Paris bronze and recent wins as fuel, Cherotich has her eyes firmly on the World Championships.
"I think I can build on this momentum and continue with good results this season," Cherotich said.
However, the young sensation is cautious.
"First of all, I am very surprised by this result. I did not expect to win today," she said. "I wanted to make sure I secured a win, and it worked well at the finish line."
"It was not an easy run because all of us were here to win. It felt almost like the (2024) Olympic final," she added.
Winning bronze in Paris has boosted her confidence.
"When I won my medal in Paris, it helped me a lot in my life and helped me to focus on training and competing even more," she stated.
Cherotich hopes to flip the script yet again in Tokyo.
Cherotich’s steeplechase rivalry with Yavi dates back to the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where Yavi struck gold in 8:54.29, ahead of world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech (8:58.98) and Cherotich (9:00.69), who was making her global senior debut.
Chepkoech opened her 2025 campaign with a low-key 5,000m race at an Athletics Kenya track and field Weekend meeting in March.
Meanwhile, 2022 World Under-20 1,500m champion Reynold Cheruiyot showed his growing range by surprising a strong field in the men's 5,000m to claim victory in 13:16.40.
Switzerland's Dominic Lobalu and Bahrain's Birhanu Balew clocked an identical time of 13:17.70 to finish second and third.
Cheruiyot noted he decided to push for victory in the final 400m.
"I decided to hold some strength for the last part of the race and push hard in the last 400 metres," Cheruiyot said. "My focus for this season will be (to run 1,500) at the Tokyo World Championships."
However, he has ambitions of exploring further into the 5,000m in future.
"I want to do both distances in the future. My biggest thanks to all the fans who were here tonight and helped me to get this good result."
