Kenya’s Sheila Jebet avenged her close defeats last year to claim the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Hannut on Sunday.
Jebet, 19, turned the tables on Ethiopia’s Yenenesh Shimket and Uganda’s Charity Cherop in the women’s race to claim top spot in a winning time of 31:01.
The Kenyan, who earlier this year scooped the six kilometer AK Cross Country title in Iten, led at the end of the second lap, a gap that she never relinquished.
Having come close to winning in Cardiff in November, Jebet, followed by Shimket, was well away by the fourth loop when Kenya’s Gloria Jepkirui ended her race after appearing to lose a shoe.
Jebet looked comfortable as she moved away from Shimket, and she had a clear lead with one loop remaining.
She glanced over her shoulder but couldn’t sense any immediate danger and pushed on, eventually finishing six seconds clear.
The fourth-place finisher at the U20 World Cross Country race last year was followed by Shimket in 31:07 and Cherop in 31:22.
The Belgian duo of Roxane Cleppe and Chloe Herbiet meanwhile completed the top five.
