Ethiopia’s Yigrem Demelash brought the Kenyan dominance at the event to a halt today to grab the gold medal in style in a career best of 28:16.07. <br /><br />The Kenyan pair of Geoffrey Kipkorir Kirui and Philemon Kipchilis Cheboi had been hotly tipped as the main favourites but Demelash proved to be a master tactician and his arch-rivals Kenyans had to settle for the minor places on the podium on this occasion.<br /><br />The race opened quite conservatively as the lonesome early leader China’s Binlu Wang went through the opening 1000m in 2:55.54 and a full 10-second margin over the rest of the 34 competitors. The Kenyan pair injected a lethal pace some 1500m into the race and only the Ethiopian duo and Uganda’s Moses Martin Kurong were able to live with their pace.<br /><br />Kirui, who holds an impressive 26:55.73 to rank second on the all-time Junior lists, opened full gas after the second kilometre and an impressive 8:15 split for the following three kilometres led him lonesome at the front. Even before the halfway, Kirui began to lap the slowest contenders.
