Kenya's Chebet wins women's 5,000m gold medal

PARIS :Kenya's Beatrice Chebet won the gold medal in the women's Olympic 5,000 metres in a time of 14 minutes 28.56 seconds on Monday.

The Netherlands' Sifan Hassan (14:30.61) claimed silver and Italian Nadia Battocletti took bronze in 14:31.64.

Chebet produced a thrilling sprint finish to win the first medal for her country at the Paris Olympics.

Kenyan Faith Kipyegon had finished second in 14:29.60 but was later disqualified.

Chebet took the early lead and stayed grouped up with compatriots Kipyegon and Margaret Kipkemboi through much of the race, keeping her cool as Kipyegon and Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay collided at the start of the penultimate lap.

Tokyo champion Hassan was in fifth place heading into the final 400 metres and dug deep to try to hang onto her Olympic crown but could not match the Kenyans' speed around the final turn.

Chebet hugged and cheered Kipyegon as the pair donned Kenyan flags to wild cheers from the packed house at the Stade de France.

It quickly became clear, however, that Kipyegon would not join her on the podium as her name disappeared from the results list and she was later marked disqualified.