World Cross Country Championships Athletics

Welcome to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, for highlights of the 2017

World Cross Country Championships. Some of the athletes in the world

gather in the spiritual home of distance running, East Africa.

Uganda's neighbours, Kenny and Ethiopian, are known for producing

world-class distance runners, and it when it comes to cross-country, they

are almost untouchable. S COMMENTATOR: And he comes away, an

imposing figure, dominant, and that is an all-time record. Kwame of

Ethiopia takes the gold. Since 1983, these two nations have

won almost half of all the gold medals between them.

One of the greatest distance runners that women's athletics has ever

seen. So, can the Ugandans rise to the

occasion on their home turf, or will we see yet more titles for Ethiopia

and Kenya today? Here at the Kololo independence

grounds, we have five races, with both individual and team medals up

for grabs. The under 20 women and men run the shorter distances of six

and eight kilometres respectively, and the senior races are both run

over five laps of the two kilometre course. But for all that, it is the

new event, the mixed relay, and eight kilometre race is run by teams

of two Menard two women who each complete a two kilometre loop in any

order that they choose, passing a bat on in the 20 metre zone. No

British team in this event, but we have the three-time Olympic champion

as Bill Kiprop and also Dibaba. And so most of the teams have gone for

man, woman, man, woman. The USA have decided to put Paul Chelimo, they

Olympic silver medallist, the last leg. The last leg is a little

shorter, about 200 metres shorter because they go straight to the

finish final, but the first three legs are all too kilometres. So here

we go, mixed relay, for the first time ever, men running against

women, and it will be interesting to see who gets the order right. It is

as Bill Kiprop wasted on this first leg 's he will be if he doesn't put

some distance between him and the others on this first lap. It is

pretty flat, but there are one or two ups and downs, and there is a

ditch, which has been a little controversial, it was considered to

be dangerous, but we are told it has been filled in overnight. Kiprop in

the lead, so let's see how he negotiates the first lap.

Immediately we are seeing the impact of having chosen to put the women on

the first leg, the teams are quickly separated into groups, and what

happened with the Ugandan team as they saw the other guys step up, and

they switched around at the last minute, I don't know whether they

might be penalised for that, because they are not running the team in the

order they had declared. Paula as ever looking at for the rules, and

once you have declared, a bit like the four by 400 metres, you cannot

change the order unless there is an injury. You cannot suddenly decide

that you could change it at the last minute, so unless they went into

re-declare based on some scenario involving an injury or illness, they

may well be disqualified. Plenty of Kenny and support, Ugandan flags

waving as well. Good crowds, Cory Leslie of the USA quite a long way

back, so takes the wristband off, hands it over, and Ethiopian now and

second place, they have Dibaba on the last leg. And here they have

Bone Cheluke, one of their better-known athletes. So far, so

good in the changeover, Paula. I didn't see any of them drop yet. We

will only be able to see if they drop it there, because they can hold

it in their fist, so you won't see a wristband or a baton evident, but

she has gone off here, Winifred Bisegni, very fast.

And in the background you can see Turkey, Turkey and Bahrain running

with a team of transferred athletes. We were thinking that the Turkish

team on paper looked very good. It has both the Kayas, with Yasmin

Khan, and that team on paper looked very strong as a quartet, so not a

good first leg for Turkey, way down on Kenya and Ethiopian, and Mbithe

looks to be having... She sprinted off as if it were 800 metres, so be

interesting to see, not only whether Bone Cheluke, whether one or two of

the other teams can just get a little bit closer. And now Turkey

are coming into it, you can see Miriam actor. Ethiopian now closing

it down, and Turkey, Akdag is suffering in third place. Back in

front of the crowd, and getting a lot of support from the grandstands,

and this is an area where they will be able to get a clear view ahead of

them through the transfers own, and hopefully able to see their next

runner being ushered out to take the wristband from them and to be able

to go on with their race. Uganda are closing, they are in fourth place,

getting a bit closer, and we are assuming that that is Winnie

Nanyondo, she was initially down to do the first leg, and whether or

not... That is Ronald Musagala waiting for them. Will the change be

looked upon leniently by the officials? So, there is gone if the

Kejelcha waiting to go, and Akdag collapses at the end, exhausted. And

you would think that what they have to do here is go out, not hang

around. Bernard Koros needs to move, make Kejelcha regret his early

effort. You have got to think that if she is within ten or 15 seconds,

she has got a great chance of closing the gap, so Kejelcha has a

job to do for his team, but we can set Turkey with Ali Kaya chasing

him. Bernard Koros really has to work hard here and build up as much

of a cushion as he can for Beatrice Chepkoech on the last leg, her best

is still 13 seconds behind Inzy Dibaba who will be trying to chase

her down. They will be being chased down by the likes of Paul Chelimo.

No, they switched around for Uganda, he was originally supposed to be

going on the final leg. That gap is not getting any smaller. We are in

for a real humdinger on this last leg, as Kenya will have the lead, it

is a big lead, and we are expecting it to be round about 15 seconds.

There is Kejelcha doing his best to try to close it, and every second he

gets closer, just giving Dibaba something to race for. Ali Kaya has

moved into third Turkey, and this is Bernard Koros coming to the end of

his leg, and he will hand over to Beatrice

Chepkoech, she is waiting, and Kejelcha will be waiting to take

advantage of them tiring. It is less than 2000 metres ahead of them now.

Kenya are first, here we go. Watch the clock here. Ethiopian awaiting

as Kenya race away. And Dibaba, she will have a real task on her hands.

It is less than 15 seconds, there she is, probably 11 or 12 seconds. I

think that is game over. She has got the bit between her teeth and she is

chasing hard, and Beatrice Chepkoech knows she is being chased and is

going as fast as she can, but she needs to stay in control as well,

because this course has a sting in the tail as well as we have seen at

the end, we have seen that on previous laps, and that is on the

closing half of the second loop, she needs to maintain her form, maintain

her concentration and paste this right. Look at that, she is

definitely not moving that well, and there is still plenty of time for

Dibaba, if she can get within three or four seconds. A little look over

her shoulder for Chepkoech, if she can get within three or four seconds

with 400 to go, then of course we have to bear in mind, it is not a

full lap, this one, and it might be that she is going to run out of

distance and run out of time. We expected her to close this gap

quicker than she has done. She can obviously see the run in front of

her that she needs to chase down, but she is also getting a lot of

encouragement from the Ethiopian team management and supporters at

the court. We will get more of an idea of how comfortable she is as

she negotiates hill now, and how well she runs up and down that. She

just looks very heavy legged to me, as though she is not getting the

return from this ground that the others are and that she would be

accustomed to getting when she races on the track. I think this is going

to be really close, she has got the bit between her teeth now and she is

within seven or eight seconds. Is she going to run out of time? Has

she got the ability to judge a big kick? Surely Chepkoech has saved a

little for the finish here, and she is just 20, 30 metres ahead, and the

victory could be hers. Choppy stride up that last little rise, a few more

twists and turns, and the last thing she should do is look behind,

because I think it is going to be only one thing she is going to see,

Dibaba trying to pick-up, but there is not far to go now. And we can set

Dibaba is still not close enough, there she is, and it is getting down

to four or five seconds, but that is still a lot to make up. Dibaba is

sprinting already. Now Dibaba looks like she usually looks. She can see

in front of her, she should know how far she has got left to go, and has

she got enough left to be able to close this gap, or has Beatrice

Chepkoech just saved enough to be able to finish this race of hard?

She is still about for about half seconds behind, and that is a big

gap to make up in what is only about 300 metres left to run. Kenya

leading the first ever mixed relay at the world cross-country

Championships, Dibaba, the person you so would want to have on the

last leg, and with just 100 metres to go, she is going to run out of

time. It is going to be a gold medal for Kenya, beating their great

rivals, and that may well be down to tactics, the first leg, Kiprop gave

them the lead, they never really wished it, and despite the efforts

of Kejelcha and Dibaba, Kenya win the relay. Dibaba gives up the chase

in the end, it wasn't quite there for her today, she takes the silver

for Ethiopian, and then the European cross-country champion Can brings

home the bronze for Turkey. So, the women's junior race, under

20s, gets under way in Kampala at this course. Oh, a false start, he

is trying to stop them. Athletes are doing what they always should do,

Paula, keep going until somebody literally jumps in front of you.

That official looked as though he was trying to, and then changed his

mind. Anyway, we think we are under way here, a few anxious glances

behind to see if everybody is following, and yes they are, and

inevitably, Kenya and Ethiopian to the fore in the early stages, but

I'm glad to say there is a British contingent in this race as well.

It was a messy start, equally in the relay

race has went off earlier, they didn't hold them very long. Almost

immediately the gun went. I think some were caught unawares. I didn't

hear a recall gone but they ran out onto the course is to try to stop

them. For the under 20 women, for many of them it's their first

experience of the world Cross country so they don't have any

experience of this happening before and they will have just carried on

running the race and hoping if nobody runs out in front of you and

tells you you have to go back, once you get past certain distance nobody

will come back to get you. How would you describe it, a warm summer 's

day in the UK, but thankfully without the humidity which could

make it feel a lot worse. They are just about quarter of a way round

the second lap. Some gaps starting to appear now. Ethiopia only had

four in the lead group, now it looks like they have got three but it

looks like some of the Kenyans are starting to struggle. Chemutai for

Uganda in fourth place. The Kenyan challenge is down to two. Chespol

was certainly the favourite coming into this but Lobun is certainly

having a good run here. These three seem to have the medals between

them. Heading into the last lap, I apologise for not being able to give

you more updates on the British contingent. The readout of where

people are does not seem to be working. You can see they run across

the mats. I think perhaps it is because the previous mixed relay

race hadn't quite finished before this race got under way so that may

explain why. Now, can Chespol, the prerace Kenyan favourite, take on

this? Look how comfortable she is, she's off. She's not even waiting.

She felt so good she decided to push on with this race, maybe that's why

she was looking at her watch so much because she couldn't believe they

weren't running quicker. Certainly the fact we are not getting any

details on the lapse here maybe indicate what they were trying to

recall them for at the start because there didn't seem a lot wrong with

the start so maybe they realised the previous race hadn't finished so

they shouldn't have started this race now. But there won't be any

question here about the winners. She glides down the hill and negotiates

the uphills with even more ease and she looks even more comfortable now

that she has opened up the pace and she is stretching away with every

stride from the two Kenyan athletes behind her. So Gidey of Ethiopia

comes home and the magnificent style to retain the title she won two

years ago in China. The previous person to do that went on to become

the Olympic champion. Gidey, and indeed her team-mate, Feysa, has had

a storming finish. A very tired Chespol comes through for the bronze

medal for Kenya and they will be hoping that third, fourth, fifth, we

have three Kenyans, three Ethiopians... Has she crossed the

line? I think she has crossed the line. It will be about the next

counter and it may well be... We will have to wait officially. Kenya

have got four in now but only two places ahead of Ethiopia. Sadly we

still don't have a full results from the women's. Race I suspect the

times they were giving me" hand times. This is Chemutai for Uganda,

certainly one of the prerace favourites if they have any chance

of individual gold it may well come in this race. That man there,

Kimunyan, may challenge from the Kenyan point of view. We have

Britain represented, Scott Beatty, Benjamin Davis, Luke Pryor, Jonathan

Shields and Sam Stevens from Leicester competing for Great

Britain in this under 20 event. Here we go. So the under 20 men get under

way. 106 competitors from 28 different countries. Four laps of

the two kilometre loop. The fast, racing start as normal. Ethiopia

trying to get up there with the Kenyans, and it may well be the

contender from Uganda, Chemutai, who may be the one who upsets the

applecart in terms of the dominance of tenure. Great Britain will be

hoping they can have a good experience here. But as ever, it is

a fast start and they twist and turn down to the first non-flat section,

shall I call it, where they drop down a little bit. The decline and

then back up again. It will just take them probably half a kilometre

or so to settle down. There's one or two in there who might have gone off

a little bit too fast. Always a temptation in your first world cross

country, you want to get yourself in a good condition so you need to

start well enough to get yourself in a good position without getting

yourself too much into heavy legs lactic acid territory. I think we

saw at least one athlete there committing that sin of going off far

too fast and that is race over. It will take them a little while to

settle down, then thankfully we are back on board with technology so you

will be able to see the names scrolling through. The British team,

interestingly, Jonathan Shields who won the English counties

cross-country championship trial. Actually for all mothers today,

happy Mother's Day. Barega is attacking strongly now.

You have to expect that he has studied this and know where his

strengths and weaknesses lie on this course. He was again looking at his

watch, I have no idea why unless they are getting messages but I

think they would not have time to study that at this point and he

certainly has the support of the entire crowd almost today. Behind,

they would dearly love to see the Ugandan athletes win this but the

race is far from won at this stage. He has a lot of strong company

around him, Barega looking controlled but still comfortable.

Another little look across to gauge which is working harder at this

point, the two Kenyan athletes now together. Kimunyan, starting to look

more heavy load. Kimunyan tried to go past Kirui. If anything happens

here, he will be the one who has a chance. Look at Kiplimo, and

Kimunyan is recognising the challenge. Look at the support he's

getting. Opening up a lead already of about ten metres from the chasing

Kimunyan now. He has moved into second place so it is Uganda in the

shape of this man, Jacob Kiplimo. Can he give the home crowd something

to cheer? He started quickly on this last lap but there is about one mile

of running left. Here, Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, and it seems half the

crowd have managed to get into the infield but that doesn't matter. All

of his team-mates, in fact lots of other teams I think cheering this

man on because it means the atmosphere has been ratcheted up.

Look at the seams, absolutely superb. Kampala have got themselves

a hero here. Jacob Kiplimo with plenty of company, but none of them

thankfully for him are in the race! None of them will stop him taking

this title. Although the gap is closing all the time, he has one

more turn. He looks pretty tired and it is a quick chase on but he only

has 150 metres to go. That gap is closing all the time, he needs to be

aware of that. He needs to pick up here. We are all getting anxious for

him. The chase is really on. Surely Kiplimo has enough left here as he

comes into the home straight. Here he comes, what a victory it is going

to be for him. A real chase from Walelegn, the chaser, but Kiplimo

takes the gold medal. Held off a late challenge from the Ethiopian,

Walelegn. Everybody, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter which country you

are from spectating, enjoyed the home win there. Confirmation of the

result of the junior race. A fantastic first ever gold medal at

the junior race for Jacob Kiplimo and Uganda. Some confirmation on the

British athletes, Sam Stevens 43rd, Jonathan Shields 60th position. Luke

Pryor, 80th. Ben Davis, 87. So away they go, the senior women,

heading off on this extended course for the first time in terms of

distance, just short of ten kilometres, over 100 competitors

from 31 different countries including Great Britain, and the

usual stampede at the beginning, and already it's just starting to settle

down a little bit. These good conditions providing great

opportunity for the track runners to really show what they can do against

the better cross-country exponents, so the fact this race is over the

longer distance, not a distance that they will be frightened about at

all, but it changes the dynamic little bit of the race. In this

race, the defending champion, Tirop, already to the fore. We have the

Olympic 3000 metres steeplechase champion and record holder as well.

And as of a strong Ethiopian team to try and take the title, both

individually and in terms of the team race. Great Britain, as I said,

four competitors, led by the British team captain here. They will be

hoping that certainly all four of them can run well enough to raise

the team up the rankings. Five laps of this twisty, turning course,

obstacles not really providing too much of a challenge to any of the

athletes really. Just need to watch your feet when you are in the crowd

there but apart from that nothing too much to worry about. The first

of the massive mountains on this course here, up and over they go.

That's like the Hickstead Hill, remember that? Showjumping on

grandstand on a Saturday afternoon? There used to be a little mound,

never mind. The viewers will know what I'm talking about.

What it might have done is just break up the race a little bit,

because of all of the races so far today, this is certainly the most

bunched together in the beginning, maybe because they have increased

the distance a little, and the ladies are taking some time to

settle over this first lap before they really start racing. What it

does mean is that when they do come around to those logs, it will mean

more difficult for the runners in the pack, because they won't see

them coming, so they will have to have remembered where they are

placed and anticipate and react fairly quickly so we don't have any

fall is. But so far, the hills or bumps not having much impact on this

race, and not really breaking it up very much. It is already stretching

out a little bit, Paula. We were saying there was a big group in that

first lap, people can get overexcited and start to drop off

the group, little gaps start to appear. A little bit of pace being

applied. That is Givet, just wants to stay close. This lead group,

comprising mainly of Kenyans, only to fairy and Jebet in that group who

are not Kenyan. You see those team standings going through, that was

after two laps. And we are looking for the defending champion, who I

would have thought might be struggling a little bit, and appears

to be doing so, just not going with this little bit of pick-up of pace,

and Kipyegon allowing her lesser-known team-mates to push on

here. Just a quick update on the British contingent after two laps.

They are being led by Louise Small who moved up to 50 Fourth Place. It

is a different tactic to what we have seen from the Americans who

have gone out hard and try to maintain it, the British athletes

were 80th after the first lap. Louise Small, in 60th, and Claire

duck and Rebecca Murray behind her in 80th and 81st. To drop has quite

a bit of tape around her there, I am wondering if she is carrying an

injury, she would have hoped to figure highly here, she has been

racing well so far this year, but doesn't look able to compete with

these four, away and running very strongly.

Kipyegon was there, she was, but all of a sudden she is not. It is the

pace that these two are applying at the front to the lesser-known,

certainly Irene Cheptai a little better known than the youngster, but

these three pulling away from Kipyegon. It is getting tough out

there now. A Kenyan victory means a lot to these girls at the world

cross-country, to be able to go back home and say that you won the world

cross-country, it is a big thing for them, so each one of these girls

will want to come away from this with the victory, and Faith Kipyegon

isn't out of this yet. The gap is growing, but she is not falling back

very fast. If one of these would tire, which can happen, the way we

have talked about how the Kenyan athletes can race, it is feasible

that at least one of these could drift back, but Rogge blew not all

of them. Faith Kipyegon is going to have a long run, and she is going to

have to keep working hard, as is Agnes to

These three look to have it between them, Faith Kipyegon further back

with a team-mate just watching these three continuing to move away. The

Kenyan one, two, three, a clean sweep, in fact it is Kenya one to

five at the moment, and Kipyegon looks tired. That is my point, it

doesn't matter how good and fit you are, when psychologically in

cross-country it goes, then goodness me, you can end up losing 20 places

on the last lap. New line so, the last lap, three Kenyans, the fourth

place at the Olympic Games, the one who looks to be struggling just at

the moment, Alice Apra, and then the Kenyan cross-country champion, Irene

Cheptai in second place, just sitting behind her team-mate,

unbeaten in 2017 in cross-country, but leading is the youngster, Lilian

Rengeruk, a big surprise here. Faith Kipyegon really struggling now, and

the defending champion, Agnes Tirop, nowhere to be seen. It is about

these three, no challenge from Ethiopia at all, and they are on the

last lap and heading for a Kenyan clean sweep. It is hard to pick one

out from those three. You keep wondering, she looks a bit tired as

we watch the others coming through here, but lapping runners now. Watch

her up this hill, struggling, she just doesn't get up the hill, and

there are couple of those, suddenly the gap appears, she works as back,

the next hill comes and she loses it again, that is soul destroying. Yes,

and it is giving a mental advantage to these two who are able to work

together, they sensed that she struggled up that hill and they

picked it up a little, and she is also looking very ginger in the way

she is looking going down the hill, but when they have to go up and

over, she loses more ground because she really goes very gingerly down

the hill. Wet in contrast to Irene Cheptai and Lilian Rengeruk, they

let themselves go downhill, and that is a technique that you would expect

Aprot to have a little better, so maybe she is feeling something as

she goes down those hills. About half way round this last lap, maybe

a kilometre, maybe a little less to go, but all of a sudden, the Kenyan

champion of 2017 is now attempting to become the world champion here,

and immediately, Aprot, a little belatedly, moves past her team-mate

to try to give chase, but there is only one person looking strong at

the moment, still plenty of distance to go with two of those hills to

come as well, you just suspect that Aprot will lose even more ground on

her team-mate. She had a great year in 2016, Cheptai, not as quick as

many of her team-mates on the track, but when you are an improving

athlete, your time is come down. Then you come onto the area where

you think, this is where I am strongest, cross-country, carry that

confidence into the winter as she obviously has, and now she is trying

hard to get a winning gap between her and her team-mate, but she is

not giving this up, Aprot. Fourth in Rio, heading for a medal here, but

she will lose ground. Look at Irene Cheptai, again takes another three

or four metres out of her team-mate. She just looks so much more

comfortable, and then she maintains that momentum and uses it to drive

away still further. Surely Cheptai has done enough now, she hasn't

looked behind, eyes forward, concentrating on the closing stages,

the last couple of hundred metres here. Let's make sure she takes the

finishing the final, and the Kenyan flag alongside her will be something

she will be carrying soon, because the finish line will be in sight

when she comes round the last bend, she has a few seconds advantage over

her team-mate, she is not going to close but now, it will be gold medal

for Irene Cheptai, unbeaten in 2017 over cross-country, and she has

carried that form to the most important race and the most

important win of her career. Cheptai of Kenya becomes the world

cross-country champion. Gold to her. Silver goes to Alice Aprot in second

place, and in the clean sweep the Kenya completed as the youngster

crosses the line, the great performance from Lilian Rengeruk to

take the bronze medal. Cheptai is completely out there, she is

rewarded with the gold medal, and setting those Kenyan flags flying by

being so strong on that last lap there. She has paid for it a little

bit, big sprint finish in the end. Hyvin Jepkemoi, and Agnes Tirop,

just watching them coming in. Just haven't really been able to

challenge the big names. They are all struggling a little bit. That

was tough. Kenya of course will win the team race, very much their day

in the women's senior race. Individual gold and team gold for

Kenya. So, the winner of the gold medal, Irene Cheptai of Kenya,

A-list Aprot taking the silver medal, and the 19-year-old Lilian

Rengeruk taking the bronze. The Ethiopians not being able to muster

much of a challenge, complete Kenyan dominance in the women's senior

race. Luis Moore, 37, Rebecca Murray not too far behind, about 13 seconds

behind her, 40 First. One more race to go today, but before that, a

reminder that there is international football on this weekend, World Cup

qualifiers, coverage of Scotland's must win game against Slovenia on

the BBC website. You can catch up with all things rugby game the Super

League Show on Tuesday, and the next athletics will be the London

Marathon in just a few weeks run on the streets of the city that will

host this year's track and field World Championships.

COMMENTATOR: Usain Bolt has done it! Clinic it is a new British record.

It is a mammoth job. Sophie Hitchon, what an effort. Elaine Thompson has

Olympic gold. A new British record.

Rudisha is going to win the world title.

That was a beautiful job. Laura Muir has smashed the British

record. Mo Farah wins the gold.

Big support, including of course Stephen Cooper, and

they have a lot of experience in that Ugandan team, so Kenya, names

that you will recognise as you go down, full of experience. They are

just about ready to go. We wait for the call forward, and here we go.

The men's senior race gets under way with a rather quiet starting pistol.

They will sprint for 200 metres, followed by 9700 metres of hard

running after that. A few people right up at the beginning will not

last for long, they are just jostling here for a little bit of

position. And then they will start to settle down. So the senior men, I

highlight of the programme for many, and maybe some big names in the

women's race, but it is Kamworor, the defending champion, who has gone

off there. They will be hoping to cheer their men to at least a medal

after winning the junior gold medal, they will be hoping for more of the

same here. The pace looks, despite the big group, they haven't looked

as though they have settled down to much yet, looks as though they are

pushing on the front a little bit, look at that, lots of people

close-up. And some of those are going to pay a

little bit further down the line, that is for certain, as they come to

compete the first lap. It is the biggest pack so far, and you see the

danger as they come through that narrow area to finish the first

loop, because the course narrows down very quickly and there are a

lot of cones which mark the way down to the finish when they come round

on the final lap, and some of the guys were getting dangerously close

to some of those cones in the way. But they just didn't seem to have

been any falling, they negotiated the logs as well as they negotiated

the cones. And now they are starting to push on a little bit, but nobody

really wanted to pick up anything from this, because it is already

ticking along very fast, and not really having much inroads on the

pack. That early pace already starting to

take its toll, Paula. A big group, just over a kilometre ago they were

bunched up, now they are spread out. Yes, a big difference in terms of

how well they are bunched. You can see the big contenders we would have

expected to be up there. Most I think are up there in that group.

Maybe the fact the race is shorter than the guys are used to is having

a bit of an impact. They cannot take that first lap so much to settle in

because they only have for more laps to follow-on after that. They need

to knuckle down, and they have done that here today. We still have the

contenders, the Kenyans leading at the front. There is a big Ugandan

contingent, they are going over the hill so they will be hoping to get

individual honours as well as team honours if possible, and Kenyans

will have been fired up by that first ever clean sweep of the first

six places in the world Cross country, certainly in the senior

women's race. So still settling down as they approach the closing stages

of the second lap already, and I don't know if they are getting

nervous but I am because our computer results are struggling to

give an update in what happened in long one so I'm hoping it comes to

life in la two, otherwise it will be difficult to keep you updated with

how teams are progressing. So, Uganda up there with three in the

leading group. There is Moller, I mentioned him at the beginning. He

has become one of those rare animals who has won the Ethiopian track

championships as well as cross-country but he's not a big

name. He's never had a chance to show what he can do on this sort of

stage so the fact he hasn't started so quickly, that doesn't bode well

for him. There is the first of the Ethiopians coming into the picture

now. Then Moller at the back of the lead group and already seems to be

struggling with his pace. Yes, struggling to hang on to the

coat-tails of Edris just ahead of him. He is at his best, he has just

moved up onto the shoulder of the runner in front and is very much

involved. Moller has just drifted back into third. He will not be able

to work his way back. We are not seeing reckless surging at the front

of this race, it is a sustained increase in pace and if you are not

able to go with that, working your way back into it will be very

difficult. So Cheptegei, and Kamworor right up

there. Even for an athlete as good as he is, if you are not in shape,

you cannot attack in this early stage so he's obviously feeling fit

and confident enough. The pace is fast, you can just tell the

lead... There were questions about his shape coming in but I don't

think he would have come to an event as a significant as the world

cross-country if he wasn't there far enough to commit to racing strongly

and racing well at this stage. How quickly these gaps are opening up,

and Cheptegei is doing damage in this race. It will be interesting to

-- because we have seen when they come through for second or third,

and all of the sudden, Cheptegei is taking the defending champion,

Geoffrey Kamworor, with him. As Paula was saying, he surely prepared

himself for this but it is a brave effort. It is hard running at this

part of the race and there is still a long way to go here. A couple of

laps, four kilometres of running. Cheptegei, forging on. This time he

will hear the bell and that in himself will be a mass of

encouragement to him. We do get a little bit of data, it was a seven

second gap. It looks reasonably accurate. I didn't like the look

over his shoulder that Kamworor gave, as if he's more worried about

the danger coming from behind him and holding that off. That means

Cheptegei has gained the first psychological victory in turning the

screw, he has managed to get the gap far enough that has he broken the

invisible thread that was linking Kamworor to him? Certainly he is

getting huge support from the crowds which will fire him on. I don't

think it is too soon, he knows this course inside out and backwards and

he knows where his strengths and weaknesses lie. A lot of this will

be noise and support but information too on how big the gap is and isn't

going away with each stride or is it being closed down with each stride?

As he takes the last gap, Uganda have got the man in the front, the

man leading, and the crowd going absolutely crazy here and why not.

Just 20 years of age, great performance at the Olympic Games

last year. The only thing that will be a slight disappointment to him is

that you might have dreamt of becoming Uganda's first of gold

medallist in the world cross-country championships, well sadly for him

but not his country he will be the second man because his junior

team-mate already took the under 20 title. What a day for the host

nation here. Yes, he has raced this hard with a lot of knowledge of the

course. It isn't won yet, Kamworor still looks strong but he isn't able

to raise his pace enough to be able to compete with the pace Cheptegei

is coming in at the front. I'm sure the likes of Cheptegei will have

been here and trained over and over on this course and worked out their

best strategy. The Kenyans are very famous for working on their best

strategy, but the Ugandans have worked hard and planned this. I'm

getting worried for him. He has got to use these black markers if he's

going to win this race because Kamworor is charging now and the

crowd are celebrating, we have almost been celebrating on his

behalf but he looks very tired. The knee lift has gone, the stride

length has shortened, is anxiously looking behind because Kamworor is

on the charge here. He's nearly tripping up. This could end really

sadly for Cheptegei, who has led this race, I said he ripped the

heart out of it, but has he in so doing destroyed his own chances?

Kamworor, the defending champion, is reinvigorated, only to microseconds

behind. It's like he's running through quicksand. That is a big

whack in the stomach as Kamworor runs past him. It must be breaking

the heart of Cheptegei, who needs to keep going for the silver medal

because it will be under threat from the athletes behind. It was so hard,

to go so hard in the middle of the race you have got to be confident

about maintaining that, and although Kamworor did his best to go with

him, he couldn't. Sometimes when you let the guide go and the guy keeps

pushing on, you can maintain your pace better, then suddenly you

realise the guy in front... I don't think Kamworor has picked it up that

much, I think Cheptegei has fallen apart. They were cheering and

dancing, handing him the gold medal because he looked so good, then

there was a hill at third of the way into the last lap and suddenly there

was nothing left. Suddenly the energy and his confidence had gone,

and with it the chance of a world title, the chance of joining his

team-mate as a world champion. But Cheptegei is in real trouble. It is

so sad to see, I hope he's OK. So Geoffrey Kamworor defends his title.

He kept going, plugging away, and he is rewarded with another world title

to add to the world half marathon title he won this year and this

world title he won two years ago. Gold medal for Kenya. Then there's

lots of changes behind in terms of the positions. Joshua Cheptegei ran

himself into the ground trying to win the medal for his country and

team in front of his home crowd. What an effort for him and he will

make it to the finish line. So confirmation of the senior men's

result, Geoffrey Kamworor taking the title ahead of his team-mate

Barsoton, and a surprise bronze medal for Hadis. I can report that

Joshua Cheptegei finished in 30th place, very tired indeed.

Despite the disappointment for the home crowd at the end, Kampala gave

this edition of the world cross-country championship plenty to

remember. Victor is for some big names, but perhaps the emergence of

new stars in junior races including the exciting Jacob Kiplimo. The

mixed railway was an exciting new addition, and we have a lot to look

forward to in 2017. -- the mixed relay.

One of the greatest races in history! He's going to get there! Of

the Manchester run under way.