Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi, the reigning world champion, set a new Olympic record on her way to a sensational victory in the women’s 3,000-metre steeplechase at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Kenyan-born Winfred, 24, set a time of 8min 52.76sec – bettering the previous mark of 8:58.81, set by Russian Gulnara Samitova-Galkina in Beijing 2008 – as she crossed the finish line in a dramatic race ahead of Peruth Chemutai, the defending champion from Uganda, who took silver with a national record time of 8:53.34 and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich, who claimed the bronze with a time of 8:55.15.

Peruth led the fray as the runners headed into the final lap in a fiercely competitive race but Winfred had saved her best for last and an explosive final sprint saw her pull ahead of the Ugandan just before the finish line.

The Olympic gold is another addition to Winfred’s already impressive collection of medals. She won gold in the same event at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and, just days later, nabbed another gold medal, again in the 3,000m steeplechase, at the IAAF Diamond League in Zurich.

Five years earlier, the young Bahraini runner  won her first gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.

Then, she won two more gold medals at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships in Doha – one in the 5,000m and the second in her specialist event: the 3,000m steeplechase.

She capped off her successful run in the championships with a bronze medal in the 1,500m race.

Winfred is the third Bahraini athlete to win an Olympic gold after Maryam Yusuf Jamal, who won the 1,500m race at London 2012 and Ruth Jebet, who won the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in Rio 2016.

It is also the fifth Olympic medal won by a Bahraini athlete with Kalkidan Gezahegne claiming a silver in the women’s 10,000m in Tokyo 2020, and Eunice Kirwa nabbing a bronze in the women’s marathon in Rio.

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