EL BAKKALI EXTENDS STEEPLE STREAK IN SOGGY STOCKHOLM
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved – used with permission.
NOTE: This story was written remotely –Ed.
(02-Jul) — Reigning Olympic and world steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco kept his 21-month unbeaten streak going this afternoon at Olympiastadion in Stockholm, easily winning the steeplechase at the BAUHAUS-Galan, the seventh stop of the 2023 Wanda Diamond League. Since winning in Nairobi on 18 September, 2021, El Bakkali has won nine consecutive races including the World Athletics Championships gold medal in Eugene last July. The last man to beat him was Kenya’s Benjamin Kigen at the Weltklasse in Zürich on 9 September, 2021.
“It’s only my second race this season and I feel good, said El Bakkali, who clocked 8:09.84 today, about three seconds clear of second place Getnet Wale of Ethiopia. “Now I have to see with my coach how to adapt the training.” He continued: “The main goal this season remains to extend my world title in Budapest. I have won the World Championships in Eugene last year and the Olympic Games in Tokyo, so I really want to win my first world title in Europe.”
Today’s race was a tactical affair, instead of a record attempt like his 7:56.68 in Rabat on 28 May. Pacemaker Lawrence Kemboi Kipsang went too fast to be useful (2:39.95 through the first kilometer), and El Bakkali held back and was only in fourth place at that point. Wale took the lead in the second kilometer and both El Bakkali and another Ethiopian, Abrham Sime, followed. El Bakkali didn’t take the lead until there was about 600 meters to go, and on the backstretch of the final lap he extended his advantage through the final water jump. By the time he was in the homestretch, the race was in the bag and he even had time to make a few hand gestures to celebrate his win.
“In 2017 I came the first time to Stockholm, and I was only 20 years old,” El Bakkali also said. “At that time I had only won the Diamond League in Rabat, so it meant a lot for me to have my second Diamond League win in Stockholm. Since then I have won a lot of other races. Unfortunately, the men’s steeplechase hasn’t been on the program at the BAUHAUS-Galan anymore, so I am even more happy to be back winning here.”
Also happy to win was Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, the surprise silver medalist at last summer’s World Athletics Championships 800m. Running in that discipline today, he…
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