Kipyego sets huge PB in 5k and Williams wins Diamond League title

OTC Elite athletes and recent World Championship medalists Sally Kipyego and Jesse Williams completed two more landmark performances at the Samsung Diamond League meet in Zurich on Thursday.

Kipyego, who earned a silver medal in the 10,000 meters at the World Championships, grabbed second place to fellow Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot in the Zurich 5,000 – setting a huge personal best of 14 minutes, 30.42 seconds. Her previous best of 14:38.64 was set last summer.

“I knew she was in good shape from Worlds, but you’re never sure how people are going to travel,” OTC Elite head coach Mark Rowland said. “I knew she was capable of running a PB, and it’s impressive that she did, but I wasn’t expecting her to take such a big chunk out of it.”

Kipyego will return to the States and compete in the 5^th Avenue Mile in New York City on September 24 to close out her 2011 season.

In the men’s high jump, Williams became the first OTC athlete to win a Diamond League series championship on Thursday. Only a week away from his gold-medal performance in Daegu, Williams finished fourth in Zurich, but performed well enough to beat Russian Andrey Silnov in a head-to-head duel for the overall title.

“Clearly it’s nice to win a Diamond League title, but the focus is on winning championships,” Rowland commented on Williams’ achievement. “What an outstanding job he and Cliff (Rovelto, Williams’ personal coach) did in Daegu – to nail it on that day was impressive and exciting. That’s the highlight. Now he’s gone on and won the Diamond League series, but that’s just a bonus.”

Also competing in Zurich were Ben Bruce in the 3,000 steeplechase and Nick Symmonds, who was a pace-setter in the 1,500. Bruce finished in ninth with a time of 8:29.24.

Becky Radliff
OTC Elite Media Relations
(541) 343-7247
[email protected]