Kenya’s Faith Cherotich smashes World Championship record to take steeplechase gold
In some of the hottest and most difficult conditions ever, 2023 bronze medallist Faith Cherotich of Kenya stole the gold medal from the defending world and Olympic champion, Winfred Yavi of Bahrain, in a wild 3,000m steeplechase final that saw falls and a new world championship record of 8:51.59.
Yavi had to settle for silver, in 8:56.46, and Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew, the reigning world junior champion, took bronze, in 8:58.86–a new personal best.
It was a race filled with drama, with Yavi and Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai, the 2020 Olympic gold and 2024 silver medallist, taking the lead at a world-record pace and splitting the field into a leading pack and a chase pack. But around six minutes in, Chemutai fell going over the water jump, and her race was over.
At the bell, it was Yavi leading, followed by Cherotich (at 19, the youngest medallist at the Budapest games), with Jeruto in third. Then Jeruto fell on the final water jump, and Cherotich tore ahead, leaving Yavi in her wake. (Jeruto recovered well enough to finish sixth.)
Cherotich’s win may have been preordained; she beat Yavi at meets in both Oslo and Paris earlier this season, and won the Diamond League title the last two years.
See here for full results from the 2025 World Athletics Championships.
Canadian Running’s coverage of the 2025 World Athletics Championships is brought to you by ASICS Canada.
