Ethiopia’s middle distance runner Berihu Aregawi bagged the 5000m title at the 2024 Diamond League final staged in Brussels, Belgium.
The Paris Olympic Games 10000m silver medalist ran a well-calculated race before outsprinting his opponents in the final lap.
He crossed the finishing line in a season best time of 12:43.66 ahead of his fellow countrymen Hagos Gebrhiwet and Hailu Bekele.
Gebrhiwet and Bekele clocked 12:44.25 and 12:45.63 respectively to finish ahead of Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli, who managed a season-best time of 12:49.59.
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Kimeli’s compatriots Jacob Krop (13:02.35), Cornelius Kemboi (13:05.92) and Ronald Kwemoi (13:35.84) settled for seventh, eighth and 10th positions in that order.
Elsewhere, Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake ran a brilliant race to win the 100m title in 9.93 seconds ahead of the American duo of Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley, who clocked 10.00 and 10.01 respectively.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine clocked 10.09 to finish fourth ahead of Cameroon’s Emmanuel Esheme (10.10) and Japan’s Abdul Sani Brown (10.10).
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The winners in each discipline will receive a mouthwatering prize money of $30,000 (approximately Ksh 3,864,000 based on the current exchange rate) which is subject of the usual tax procedure.
In addition, they will be awarded a “Diamond League” trophy by the organizers, with those who meet a certain criteria, earning a wild card for the 2025 World Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan.
Lastly, those who finished inside the first eight positions also bagged considerable amount of money.