Kenya’s Amos Serem celebrates winning the men’s 3,000m steeplechase final during the Brussels Diamond League at King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium on September 13.
For four years, local athletics enthusiasts had agonised over the world dominance of Moroccan Olympic and world champion Soufiane El Bakkali’s in the men’s 3,000 metres steeplechase.
This is a race that Kenyans had had a stranglehold for decades before the Moroccan hit the scene.
Not even young Simon Koech’s victory in the 2023 Diamond League Trophy at the Prefontaine Classic final soothed the hearts of hurting Kenyans.
El Bakkali, who had just retained his world title in Budapest, Hungary had skipped that Diamond League final.
To rub salt to the injury, El Bakkali confirmed his status as the new king of steeplechase when he retained his Olympic title in Paris, becoming the only other athlete in the modern era to have completed a double after Ezekiel Kemboi (2004, 2012).
Kenya settled for a bronze medal for the second consecutive time via Commonwealth Games champion Abraham Kibiwott.
Benjamin Kigen won bronze for Kenya at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games.
It was thus a victory to savour for the purist Kenyan athletics fans when the 2021 world under-20 champion Amos Serem ended El Bakkali's reign at the Brussels Diamond League finals on September 13 in the Belgian capital.
Serem, 22, ran one of the best races of his life, stunning the Moroccan star, who had not been defeated since September 2021, to win in eight minutes 06.90 seconds.
The victory earned him his maiden Diamond League Trophy.
Kenyans had painfully watched El Bakkali end their dominance both at the Olympics and World Athletics Championships.
The talented Moroccan won the 2021 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and world titles in Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2013.
Serem, who had finished a distant 13th at the Paris Olympics, may have been symbolically announcing that Kenya was back in business in the steeplechase when he broke into an Ezekiel Kemboi-like victory dance after crossing the finishing line in Brussels.
"I really felt great today. I believed I could but I didn't expect it since I was competing against an Olympic and World champion but I won," said Serem after the race.
Few had betted on the African Games silver medallist, who is coached by 1992 Barcelona Olympics 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist Patrick Sang, winning at the Diamond League finals.
Remember El Bakkali was intent on reclaiming the Diamond League crown he won in 2022.
The great Moroccan had to contend with a second place in a time of 8:08.60, as Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui of Tunisia finished third place in 8:09.68.
The future of the steeplechase race in Kenya is now bright after years of unconvincing shows.
Kenya had won eight consecutive men’s 3,000m steeplechase gold medals, from the 1984 Los Angeles Games until the 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021) when El Bakkali broke the impressive streak.
El Bakkali went on to win the world title in Eugene that year, ending Kenya's 15 years reign in the championships.
Conseslus Kipruto, the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2019 Doha world champion, settled for bronze at the 2022 Eugene Worlds.
The Moroccan retained his world title in Budapest last year before adding another Olympic gold this year.
Only time will tell if Serem’s victory marks the start of a new era of Kenyan dominance.
Steeplechase coach Boniface Tiren reckons that Serem’s victory isn’t a flash in the pan but a sure sign of Kenya’s resurgence.
“Soon we are going back to the period where Kenya had like 10 athletes who could win the Olympic, Commonwealth and world titles,” said Tiren.
“Remember the days we had the likes of Ezekiel Kemboi, Richard Mateelong, Brimin Kipruto, Reuben Kosgei, Moses Tanui and Matthew Birir running for the country?
“Serem’s victory came when we really needed it. It has brought back confidence and I can give you an assurance that we are back in business,” said Tiren.
The coach is confident of Kenya recapturing the world title next year in Tokyo and on to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games but cautions that Athletics Kenya must harmonise the steeplechase training programmes.
Tiren mentions Serem’s brother Edmund (16 years), who is fresh from winning the World Under-20 title in Lima, Peru, together with Kibiwott (28), Koech (21), Leonard Bett (23) and Matthew Kosgei (18) as the new crop of steeplechase runners who will assert Kenya’s authority in the race.
Serem's rise has been gradual from 2021 when he won the World Under-20 3,000m steeplechase title before settling for bronze at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
He then claimed silver at the African Games held in March in Accra, Ghana.
Young Edmund Serem claimed silver at the Africa Championships in May in Cameroon before striking gold at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru in August.
Injuries have ruined Bett's rise as he finished fourth on return at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest but missed out on Paris Olympics where Kibiwott, Serem and Koech participated.
These new crop of steeplechase runners have time on their side and the wherewithal to return Kenya to the pinnacle of this race for a long time.
