FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele won the men’s long race Sunday at the World Cross Country Championships, taking the title for the fifth straight time.
Bekele, the Olympic and world 10,000-meter champion, won Saturday’s short race and is the first athlete to win both the 4-and 12-kilometer races five years in a row at the world championships.
“Today’s race was tough because of the wind,” Bekele said. “The wind made it hard to break away and I needed every ounce of strength to pull away from the other runners.”
Bekele waited until the last kilometer of Sunday’s race to break away from the pack to win with a time of 35 minutes, 40 seconds. Sileshi Sihine, also of Ethiopia, was 3 seconds back in second place, while Kenya’s Martin Irungu Mathathi was third in 35:44.
Bekele, 23, said this will be his last cross country world championships.
“I’ve achieved everything there is to accomplish in cross country,” he said. “I’ve competed in the cross country world championships for six years and now it’s time to step aside and make way for some of our younger athletes.”
He said he will now focus on events at the Olympics and the World Championships.
Kenya’s Paul Tergat, who has never won the short race, won the long race five consecutive times from 1995. The short race was introduced in 1998.
The Fukuoka meet marks the last time that both the short and long distance competitions will be staged at the this event.
When the championships return to Mombasa, Kenya, for the 35th edition next year, the format will revert to the one-day event with the short races for both women and men dropped from the program.
In the women’s event, Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka Bati won the short race with a time of 12:51. Kenya’s Priscah Jepleting Ngetich finished second, 2 seconds off the pace, while Meselech Melkamu of Ethiopia was third in 12:54.
Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia, who won Saturday’s long race and is the defending champion in the short race, pulled out Sunday due to illness. Dibaba had a recent case of measles and developed aches and pains midway through the race.
Kenya’s Mangata Kimai Ndiwa won the men’s 8-kilometer junior race with a time of 23:53, 1 second ahead of compatriot Leonard Patrick Komon. Bekele’s younger brother Tariku took the bronze in 23:56.
The Olympic and world 10,000 metres champion held off a strong challenge from Kenya’s Isaac Songok to cross the line in 10 minutes 54 seconds at Fukuoka’s chilly seaside course.
Songok went one better than his bronze last year, finishing just a second behind Bekele, with Morocco’s Adil Kaouch third in 10:57.
“No victories are ever easy but today was the toughest,” Bekele told reporters after collecting his 17th world title in track, indoor and cross country.
“We’ve never finished this close. The course was very flat and fast, and it was very windy, so it was hard to drop the other competitors.”
Tirunesh Dibaba made it an Ethiopian double, producing a powerful finishing burst to defend her 8km title.
Dibaba, who won the 4km race last year, outsprinted Kenyan-born Lornah Kiplagat, who runs for the Netherlands, to win in 25:21.
“I knew I had better finishing speed so I wasn’t too demoralised,” said Dibaba, who missed nearly a week of training in the run-up to the championships through illness.
“I wasn’t feeling very well. It was very hard but hopefully this will be the first of many gold medals.”
Kiplagat finished five seconds behind Dibaba with Ethiopia’s Meselech Melkamu third in 25:38.
The 4km races for both men and women will be dropped from next year’s world cross country championships in Mombasa.
