Although he was the defending champion, Asbel Kiprop was out for redemption in the men’s 1500m final after the Kenyan finished last in the 2012 Olympic final when carrying an injury. This time there was no dispute about who is the world’s best middle-distance runner. Kiprop, competing in his fourth World Championships 1500m final despite being just 24 years of age, kept himself out of trouble and took an early lead, albeit at a comfortable pace. After passing through the first lap in 59.68, team-mate Nixon Chepseba shot into the lead. At half way, Chepseba had built up a six-metre lead on the rest of the field, but his opponents were not worried. He passed through 800m in 1:59.24, but his lead had dwindled to less than a stride length as the bell sounded for the last lap. With less than 400m remaining, Kiprop was right behind Chepseba with Ethiopia’s Mekonnen Gebremedhin and USA’s Matthew Centrowitz seemingly ready to pounce. The third Kenyan in the field, defending silver medallist Silas Kiplagat, began to kick with 150m to go and looked set to get among the medals. As the field entered the home straight, Chepseba began to fade as Kiprop edged ahead. In a frantic final 50 metres, Kiprop kept his cool out in front and won in 3:36.28, but behind him Kiplagat had left himself with too much to do. Meanwhile, Centrowitz passed the fading Chepseba to finish in second place with 3:36.78, improving on the bronze medal he won in Daegu two years ago. But perhaps the biggest surprise was the well-timed dip of South Africa’s Johan Cronje to secure the bronze in 3:36.83. His nation had never before had a top-eight finisher in this event at the World Championships, let alone a medallist. Chepseba finished an agonising four hundredths of a second away from a medal in fourth, while Germany’s Homiyu Tesfaye was another surprise top-five finisher, clocking 3:37.03 to finish one place and 0.08 ahead of Kiplagat. Gebremedhin finished within one second of the winner with 3:37.21, but in a close finish it was only good enough for seventh place, one ahead of European champion Henrik Ingebrigtsen of Norway. Kiprop is now just the third multiple champion in this event at the World Championships, following Nourredine Morceli and Hicham El Guerrouj, who won three golds each. Any hopes of a Kenyan medal sweep, however, will have to wait until Beijing in two years’ time. Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF FINAL RESULTS
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Men’s 1500m Final: Kiprop Is Golden, Centro Shines Silver, and Cronje Gets Surprise Bronze as Kenyan Plan Not Executed by: LetsRun.com There is no doubt about it, Asbel Kiprop of Kenya is the best miler on the planet. In case you didn’t know, Matt Centrowitz is a pretty damn good Championship racer too. Kiprop powered to gold the final 100m, and Centrowitz was the best of everyone else to pick up silver, as South Africa’s Johan Cronje snuck up on the inside for bronze. (Race video here) The question mark heading into this one was whether the three Kenyan runners in the field, Kiprop, 2011 World Championship silver medallist Silas Kiplagat, and Nixon Chepseba, who had lifetime bests nearly two seconds faster than the rest of the field, would work together to ensure a faster pace and a possible medal sleep. Kenyan Teammwork? The Kenyans were leading but they were not pushing the pace. Was it now Silas Kiplagat’s turn to lead? No, at 800m despite the slow pace, Chepseba had actually opened up a slight gap on the rest of the field led by Kiprop. Silas Kiplagat was in the pack running in lane 2. Chepseba kept leading on the third lap and he picked up the pace, hitting 1200 in 2:56.41, but the field had closed the gap to be on him at the bell. This one came down to the final 100m as most of the field was still in contention. Chepseba hit the homestretch with the lead with Kiprop right behind him and the field right there (photo on right with 70-80 meters left). Once the full sprinting got going Asbel Kiprop was clearly best, American Matt Centrowitz moved up for silver, and Johan Cronje of South Africa snuck by Chepseba on the rail for bronze. After the race, Kiprop revealed there was a Kenyan strategy, but it was just not executed. The plan was for Silas Kiplagat to lead the first lap in 57, Kiprop to lead the second lap in another 57 (1:54 for 800), and then have Nixon Chepseba take them through 1200 in 3:53 hopefully. The plan fell apart when Kiplagat did not take the lead on the first lap as expected. Quick Takes below.
“As I already ran 3:27 this year, I was ready for any kind of race,” he said. There will be no celebration for Kiprop, “I cannot celebrate now. I have to finish the Diamond League meetings I am invited to. Next season, I want to run even faster.” That coincided with Kiprop saying after his 3:27 in Monaco this year he would like to attack the world record next year in Monaco where Kiprop has run fast twice at 1500m and once at 800m. QT #2: Silver for Centro Makes it 3, 4, and 2 In The World the Last 3 Years Centro bounced back nicely from the heartbreak of last year’s fourth place and he put his erratic performances before Worlds this year behind him. “I am pleased to get back on the podium like I did in 2011. Coming 4th at the Olympics was the hardest thing I had to go through. I thought about it all year in training. Today, I tried to stay as close as possible to Kiprop to see if there was the possibility to surprise him at the end, but he is on another level right now. There is so many tactics involved in the 1500m. The podium is totally different from last year, which shows how difficult it is to medal. QT#3 None of the London Medallists Made the Final Here QT #4 Centro Has a Knee Issue And May Not Compete The Rest of This Year QT#5 Perseverance paid off for the 31 year old South African Johan Cronje. This was Cronje’s third Worlds and first final. The 2004 Olympian, didn’t even make the Olympics last year, but he started of 2012 with a bang by running a South African national record of 3:33.46 in Doha. After that race, Cronje felt he could run 3:31 in the right conditions. However, he then started racing worse and worse (3:37.91 for 8th in Hengelo at the start of June) and with his wife having their first child he returned to South Africa just to train. The training paid off and he took advantage of his first world final and a gift from Chepseba to get the bronze. Cronje said one difficulty with being South African and in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasons are reversed and don’t match-up with the World Athletics schedule. The break because of his poor racing and his first child definitely worked out well.  Silas Kiplagat Not Taking the Lead QT #6:The Kenyan Tactical Mistakes While Kiprop ran a beautiful race, his Kenyan teammates made three big mistakes so they get their own special section. Kenyan Mistake #1: Silas Kiplagat Did Not Execute the Kenyan Strategy If the race was a fast one, we don’t see anyone breaking up the Kenyans, instead they got only one medal. Kenyan Mistake #2: Kiplagat Ran the Entire Race in Lane 2 Kenyan Mistake #3: Chepseba Letting Cronje Pass on the Inside QT #7 Chri O’Hare Just Doesn’t Have It Results
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