Kenyan Kiplagat wins women's marathon

By Yoon Chul DAEGU - In the women’s marathon, the first event of the Daegu world athletics, Kenya swept the podium with Edna Kiplagat snateched the gold medal with a time of two hours 28 minutes 43 seconds, Saturday. Her teammate Priscah Jeptoo was 17 seconds behind of winner and Sharon Jemutai clocked at 2:29:14. The 2010 New York Marathon winner fell down in the second-to-last water station by herself crossing in front of Jemutai but she overcame it. “This is my first championship I have run and I am happy to have won it,” Kiplagat said. “I hought that if I could run the race like I did in my last two marathons, I succeed. I didn’t have special strategy, I just tried to speed up at the 32 kilometers,” added Kiplagat. Until the 25-kilometer mark of the course, there were 26 runners in the leading pack. But the three Kenyan runners led by Kiplagat started their move making the distance from the back before the two-hour-run mark. At the field, the first shocking news surrounded the stadium as Steve Hooker ­ defending champion of the men’s pole vault  failed to move next round. In the preliminary, Hooker attempted at 5.50 meters but he just spent all three chances without a single success. “I felt a lot of pressure before the competition, so now it is gone,” Hooker said. “It is a good opportunity for me to look forward to the next year. Practically, thi is the end of season for me and I will have a rest,” added Hooker. In the women’s 10,000 meters at night, Kenyans again dominated the race. Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya marked her season best record of 30:48.98 and her teammates Sally Kipyego and Linet Masai brought the silver and bronze medal to their country with a time of 30:50.04 and 30:53.59 During Day 1, only Kenya earned medals among 202 participating countries. Meanwhile, Korean expecting sprinter Kim Kuk-young couldn’t taste to run at the worlds as he disqualified in the preliminary round due to false start. From this world championships when the athlete makes false start, the runner is disqualified directly.