Chespol soars to thrilling win

Teenaged Kenyan star Celliphine Chespol recovered from a lost shoe to win the 3000M steeplechase with the second fastest time in history at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meeting on Friday.

Chespol, still just 18, stormed to victory after a thrilling duel with Olympic champion and world record holder Ruth Jebet and fellow Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech over the closing laps at the Eugene's Hayward Field.

Chespol's hopes of a win looked to have evaporated when she stumbled on the water jump on the penultimate lap, appearing to have lost her shoe as Jebet and Chepkoech pulled ahead.

Despite stooping to adjust her footwear, the teenager regained her composure and clawed back the lost ground before producing a devastating burst of speed up the home straight to finish in 8:58.78 seconds. Only the Kenyan-born Jebet of Bahrain, the world record holder with 8:52.78, has run faster.

"It was difficult but I try my best. I'm happy of course," Chespol said afterwards.

 In the night's other main race, the women's 5000M, Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba failed in her bid to better the world record of 14:11.15 set by her sister Tirunesh in 2008.

Dibaba, the 1500M world champion, was racing against the clock for the final five laps after leaving the pack behind but could only finish in 14:25.22, well outside the world record, and her own personal best of 14:15.41 set in 2015.

Lilian Rengeruk was a distant second in 14:36.80 while Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was third.

Results: Women: 5000M: Genzebe Dibaba (ETH) 14:25.22, 1; Lilian Rengeruk (KEN) 14:36.80, 2; Sifan Hassan (NED) 14:41.24, 3.

3000M steeplechase: Celliphine Chespol (KEN) 8:58.78, 1; Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN) 9:00.70, 2; Ruth Jebet (BRN) 9:03.52, 3.

Long jump: Brittney Reese (USA) 7.01M, 1; Tianna Bartoletta (USA) 6.83M, 2; Lorraine Ugen (GBR) 6.78, 3.

Javelin throw: Tatsiana Khaladovich (BLR) 66.30M, 1; Liu Shiying (CHN) 65.21M, 2; Sara Kolak (CRO) 64.64M, 3.