The 12th African Games are underway in Rabat (MAR).
Today, early in the morning, the third day of track and field trials began with the two road walk events held in the Moulay Abdellah Sport Complex starting just 15min away: the women at 7:33am and the men at 7:48am
20km women
Nine athletes at the start representing six countries.
The battle for victory was restricted to a group of three athletes Emily Wamusyi Ngii (KEN) and Grace Wanjiru Njue (KEN) and Yehualeye Beletew Mitiku (ETH).
In the final part of the race a handful of seconds divided the two Kenyan walkers who occupied the first two positions of the podium.
Victory for Emily Wamusyi Ngii (KEN) in 1:34:41
Second place to Grace Wanjiru Njue (KEN) in 1:34:57
Third place to Yehualeye Beletew Mitiku (ETH) in 1:35:21
Yehualeye Beletew Mitiku would seem to have been stopped for 3 minutes in the Penalty Area for infringement of Reg. 230, when instead the IAAF Rule provides for a 20km race a stop for 2 minutes.
20km men
Also in this race there were nine athletes at the start representing six countries.
The battle for victory in this case also had to be a three-way issue between the main favorite Wayne Snyman (RSA) who had his personal best of 1:20:17, Samuel Kireri Gathimba (KEN ) capable this year of 1:23:44 (Nairobi, KEN on 22.6.2014) but with a personal best of 1:19:04 (Nairobi, KEN on 17.2.2018) and finally Simon Wachira (KEN) capable too this year of 1:23:44 (Nairobi, KEN on 22.6.2019), but with a personal best of 1:19:06 (Nairobi, KEN 17.2.2018).
The race was very intense with the fight between Samuel Kireri Gathimba (KEN) and Yohanis Algaw Wale (ETH), while Wayne Snyman (RSA) had lost a few tens of seconds.
Victory to Samuel Kireri Gathimba (KEN) in 1:22:48
Second place to Yohanis Algaw Wale (ETH) in 1:22:50 which shatters his previous personal best of 1:26:16 established in Addis Ababa (ETH) on 20.4.2018.
Third place finally to Wayne Snyman (RSA) in 1:23:58
(Photos by Carole Fuchs - African Athletics United)
Full results in the section Results or directly download from this link: click here