Kenya took part in the World Mountain Running Championships in Austria on Thursday 7 June. The East African country won five medals, including two golds.
Patrick Kipngeno reigns supreme at the world mountain running championships. The Kenyan retained his title with a time of 40:18, 1:33 ahead of second-placed Levi Kiprotich of Uganda and 1:46 ahead of bronze medallist Josphat Kiprotich.
“I thank God that I have retained my title. The course was very pleasant, very difficult. I started going hard at 5km. I’d done the course before, so when I was running I was very confident because I knew everything. I was training in Austria. I have lots of friends in Europe, it’s my second home. I trained very well, so I knew I was going to win,” exclaimed the world champion after the race.
Patrick Kipngeno also led Kenya to gold in the team race. The 29-year-old maintains that his country will continue to be a rising force in mountain racing in the years to come. Every year we improve,” he said. In Thailand, we were three (in the Kenyan team), now we’re up to seven, and every year we increase the number of athletes.”
The East African country also won the women’s team race ahead of Germany and Switzerland. Philaries Jeruto Kisang took silver in the women’s individual race with a time of 48:51. Gold went to Austria’s Andrea Mayr (48:14).
