Kenyans woke up a proud lot, after Peres Jepchirchir won Kenya a gold medal in the women marathon race at the ongoing Olympics games in Sapporo, Japan on Saturday morning.
Jepchirchir won the race in 2:27:20 ahead of her compatriot Brigid Kosgey who came in second 16 seconds later (2:27:36). USA’s Molly Seidel won bronze after finishing third in a time of 2:27:46.
Earlier, Faith Chepng’etich set a new Olympic record on her way to winning gold in the 1, 500m race at the Tokyo Olympic stadium. She won the race in 3:53:11, defending the title she managed during the Rio Olympics, Brazil in 2016.
After the latest wins, the Kenyan team has now bagged 8 medals; gold 3, silver 3 and bronze 2.
Kenya is ranked 22 overall and number one in Africa. At 81 medals (gold 37, silver 27, bronze 17). China leads the World medal table, followed by USA, hosts Japan and Great Britain in that order.
Kenyans are now looking forward to the men marathon race on Sunday morning. Olympic defending champion Eliud Kipchoge is highly expected to bring home another gold medal.
It will probably be a race of his life, given the fact that this will probably be his last appearance at the Olympic Games.