BEIJING (AFP) — Kenyan outsider Nancy Jebet Langat outpaced reigning world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal and the rest of the field to claim a shock Olympic gold in the women's 1500m final on Saturday.
The relatively unknown Kenyan, who was 27 on Friday, produced a strong final 300 metres to win in a time of 4min 00.23sec.
Ukraine's Iryna Lishchynska, bronze medallist at last year's world championships in Osaka, was second in 4:01.63 with compatriot Nataliya Tobias third at 4:01.78.
Bahrain's Ethiopian-born Jamal was fifth after flagging badly in the final 50 metres, and failing to emulate her Bahraini team-mate Rashid Ramzi, who won the men's 1500m earlier in the week.
"I'm very proud I was able to win gold," said Langat, who came into the final with a personal best of 4:02.31.
"The race was tough. It was not expected but I'm very happy," she said, adding that winning Kenya's first gold of the night had made her "feel very great because I wasn't expected to win".
Anna Alminova of Russia took the peloton out, with Langat, Lishchynska and Jamal perched in her slipstream.
Jamal bolted 100 metres before the bell sounded for the final lap and was tracked by Langat.
With 250 metres of the race to go, the Kenyan moved into pole position and as they hit the final straight, Jamal fell away as the Ukrainian duo raced past her.
But there was to be no catching the graceful Langat, who made it two middle-distance golds out of two for Kenya on Saturday after Wilfred Bungei had earlier claimed the men's 800m crown.
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