Ruth Jebet of Bahrain took the lead just after the 1K mark of the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final and was never challenged en route to winning in 8:59.75, the second fastest time in history.
Last year’s world champion, Hyvin Jepkemoi of Kenya, was able to hold off a late charge by American Emma Coburn to get the silver in 9:07.12. Coburn broke her own U.S. record by running 9:07.63 for the bronze.
The other two Americans, Colleen Quigley and Courtney Frerichs, were eighth and 11th, respectively. Quigley set a personal best of 9:21.10, and Frerichs was just outside her lifetime best in 9:22.87. The defending Olympic champion, Habiba Ghribi of Morocco, was never a factor and finished 12th in 9:28.75.
After a relatively modest opening kilometer of 3:05.93, Jebet surged into the lead. Jepkemoi, the third fastest woman in history, did not match the move, and the race was essentially over. Jepkemoi and her teammate Beatrice Chepkoech ran in second and third, with Coburn alone in fourth, already well ahead of the rest of the field.
When Jebet passed 2K in 6:00.06, the world and Olympic record of 8:58.81 was under threat. But with nobody to push her over the final two and a half laps, Jebet came up a second short.
Jebet, 19, was born in Kenya and became a Bahrainian citizen in 2013. “I am happy,” she said after her performance, which was the first medal for Bahrain in any sport. “Maybe if I was in Kenya, I not get the chance to go to the [Olympics], because in Kenya, many athletes are there. I go to Bahrain, because I am in school.”
Coburn passed the fading Chepkoech with just less than two laps to go. Chepkoech wound up fourth in 9:16.05.
“As soon as Ruth took the lead, the last four or five laps were really tough,” Coburn said. “I was in fourth, there was a gap, but I knew if I just steadily decreased my pace I could get them. I’ve never in a race done a big surge and held it, so I wanted to just slowly wind it up, wind it up. When I passed Beatrice I just thought, ‘Hold on to this, hold on to this’ and then with about a lap to go, I looked back and she was pretty far away and she has a killer kick. But I thought, ‘Okay, wow, this is mine to lose, so don’t give this up.’”
Coburn then focused on Jepkemoi, who, like Jebet, takes the 30-inch-high barriers with a sideways hop instead of a traditional hurdling technique. Jepkemoi stumbled slightly coming out of the penultimate water jump. Coburn almost pulled even with 200 meters to go, but Jepkemoi was able to reassert her claim on second, and held it to the finish.
Coburn’s bronze is the first U.S. Olympic medal in the women’s steeplechase; the event was added to the Olympic program in 2008. The last American steepler before Coburn to win an Olympic medal was Brian Diemer, who took the bronze in 1984.
Quigley said she had mixed feelings about her own race. “I thought if everything went well, I could be in the top six,” she said. “But on the other hand, I’m eighth in the world at my first Olympics and I feel that given the heat and the way I was feeling today, I’m proud of an eighth-place finish the first time here. It could have gone a lot better, but it could have been worse.”
She was full of praise for Coburn, though, and recalled looking up at the scoreboard and realizing her teammate had medaled. “I saw the American flag and her name and it’s third place, I kind of had to do a double-take. Ohmigosh, she actually did it,” Quigley said. “I’m sure she’s over the moon and so are we.”
Sarah Lorge Butler and Erin Strout contributed reporting to this article.
Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back, Advanced Marathoning, and Health & Injuries. Australian Sprinter, 16, Runs Record-Breaking 200m Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
