By Christian Radnedge
LONDON (Reuters) - Kenya's Conseslus Kipruto continued his country's dominance of the 3,000 meters steeplechase with a courageous victory at the World Championships on Tuesday.
A silver medalist in Beijing two years ago, Kipruto kicked on to take the lead with less than 300 meters left and was celebrating well before crossing the finish line in a time of 8 minutes 14.12 seconds.
The east African nation has now won 12 out of the 15 editions of the race in World Championships history.
There was no clean sweep as there was in Beijing, however, as Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco stayed with the leading group throughout to clinch silver - his first major medal.
Kipruto, just 22 years old, also won silver in his first World Championships in 2013. However, this time he made sure it was third time lucky and came down the final straight pointing to the crowd and stretching out his arms in celebration.
A Kenyan win did not look certain for much of the race as American Evan Jager, favorite following his silver medal at the Rio Olympics last year, led the field round and looked to be on course for victory until he was overtaken by Kipruto.
Jager held on to take bronze in 8:15.53 and become the first American to win a world championship medal in the steeplechase.