KENYA’S MARY MORAA skipped over the line in joy as she won the women’s 800 metres world title on Sunday in Budapest, ending Athing Mu’s dominance of the event.
The 23-year-old timed a personal best 1min 56.03sec with Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson having to settle for silver like last year, as she finished in 1:56.34.
Mu, the Olympic and defending world champion who has rarely raced this year, finished third in 1:56.61.
The tall Mu had led from the start with Moraa and Hodgkinson keeping tabs on her.
Moraa, though, was the one who was able to keep with the 21-year-old American phenomenon, while Hodgkinson decided to drop off the pace a bit as they heard the bell.
Mu moved up a gear down the back straight but Moraa would not let go and as they rounded the bend she was on her shoulder.
Mu still held the lead but as Hodgkinson made her charge down the inside it was Moraa on the outside who got ahead of the American with 30 metres to go.
Hodgkinson also passed Mu but it was too late for her to get gold.
Moraa had the edge and added the title to her Commonwealth Games gold she won last year, Hodgkinson filling second there too.
Moraa lay on the track for a few seconds before getting to her feet and dancing in celebration – and her Kenyan teammates on the training track did the same.
Earlier, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen produced a perfectly-timed sprint for the line to retain his world 5,000m title on Sunday, pipping Spain’s Mohamed Katir to gold.
Ingebrigtsen, who had to settle for 1500m silver on Wednesday, timed 13min 11.30sec, while Katir took silver in 13.11.44 and Kenya’s Jacob Krop claimed bronze in 13:12.28.
“I used my energy a little bit better than in the 1500m!” said Ingebrigtsen after his sensational finish, having himself been outsprinted by Briton Josh Kerr for gold in the 1500m.
Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed led the field off at a sedate pace in sweltering conditions at a packed National Athletics Centre in the Hungarian capital.
Race tactics, however, started soon after as Kenya’s Ishmael Rokitto Kipkurui surged, quickly building up a 50-metre gap on the pack.
Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo, whose teammate and defending Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei was missing after picking up a foot injury, tasked himself with leading the peloton in pursuit.
The trio of vaunted Ethiopians — Berihu Aregawi, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Yomif Kejelcha — then took over, successfully reeling Kipkurui in with six laps to go of the 12-and-a-half lap race.
Gebrhiwet went through the 3km mark in 8:13.11 as the field began to string out into Indian file.
Aregawi took up the lead, accelerating away with a pack of eight including Ingebrigtsen.
As the bell for the final 400 metres ran, the Norwegian was in fourth spot as the runners jostled for the optimum position to attack.
Suddenly Katir bolted into the lead down the far straight. Ingebrigtsen moved wide around the traffic and the pair hit the home stretch together.
With the eyes of both athletes fixed on the big screen just beyond the finish line, Katir gritted his teeth in a bid to hold on for victory.
But Ingebrigtsen kept his cool and in the most dramatic fashion pipped the Spaniard to the line in the last 10 metres.
