PERUTH Chemutai won the women’s 3000m steeplechase gold on Wednesday to make Ugandan Olympic history.
Her victory at Tokyo 2020, which she achieved in a new national record time of 9 minutes, 01.45 seconds, made her the first woman from her country to win an Olympic gold medal in any sport.
Chemutai kicked in the final 200 metres to beat a very strong field, with United States of America’s Courtney Frerichs winning silver in 9:04.79 and Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng claiming bronze in 9:05.39.
In the women’s 400m, USA great Allison Felix qualified for the final by coming second in her semi-final in 49.89s, making it her sixth individual Olympic final since 2004 in Athens.
She has now qualified for an individual final at every Olympic Games since her debut in 2004.
Felix reached the 200m final in 2004 and won silver, which she repeated in 2008 in Beijing.
She reached the 100m and 200m finals at London 2012, finishing fifth in the former and winning gold in the latter.
The 35-year-old advanced to the 400m final at Rio 2016, where she won another silver.
Defending champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo also eased into the 400m final, winning the second semi-final in 49.60s, while Stephenie Ann McPherson won the third semi-final in a personal best time of 49.34s.
