ACCRA, March 19, 2024 - Ethiopia won two gold medals at the ongoing African Games at the start of the athletic competition last night (March 18). Samuel Firew topped the Kenyan athletes in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase, while Medina Eisa and her compatriots won all medals in the women's 5000-meter final. Medina Eisa, Birtkuan Molla and Melknat Wudu won gold, silver, and bronze, respectively, for Ethiopia. 

CLEAN SWEEP Medina Eisa, who finished the race with a time of 15:04.32, showed a great finishing performance at the finish line. The 19-year-old runner who won the gold medal in the 5000-meter race at the 2022 World Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, is now an African Games champion. In July 2023, she clocked 14:16.54 in London to set a new world U20 record by beating Tirunesh Dibaba's 14:30.88. However, it took her more than 15 minutes to win the race in Ghana. 

Following Medina Eisa was Birtkuan Molla, who finished in second place with a time of 15:05:32. The 18-year-old athlete who won the 10K race in Dubai in November 2023 won silver at the African Games. Melkinat Wudu made it a clean sweep for Ethiopia on the podium. The silver medalist in the 5000-meter race at the 2022 World Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, took 15:07.4 to complete the twelve-and-a-half-lap race yesterday. 

Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoh, the world 3000m silver medalist, finished the race in fourth place. 
 

Ethiopia's Samuel Firew stormed to victory in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase at the African Games. The 20-year-old clocked 8:24.30 to complete the race. Following Samuel, Kenyan duo Amos Serem (8:25.77) and Simon Kiprop (8:26.19) took the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Ethiopia's Abrham Sime and Milkesa Fikadu finished fourth and fifth, respectively. 

Nineteen-year-old Samuel Firew turned a silver in the 2022 World Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, to gold at the African Games. The Ethiopian, who set his personal best time of 8:10.57 at the Diamond League event in Monaco in July 2023, managed to hold off the hard pursuit of the Kenyan pair in the last lap to finish with gold.

THE RESULTS

Women
1 MEDINA EISA (ETH) 15:04.32
2 BIRTUKAN MOLLA (ETH) 15:05.32
3 MELKINAT WUDU (ETH) 15:07.04
4 BEATRICE CHEPKOECH (KEN) 15:13.71
5 NIYOMUKUNZI FRANCINE (BDI) 15:33.17

Men
1 SAMUEL FIREW (ETH)  8:24.30
2 SEREM AMOS (KEN)  8:25.77
3 KIPROP SIMON (KEN) 8:26.19
4 ABRHAM SIME (ETH)8:27.30
5 MILKESA FIKADU (ETH) 8:27.55