Oke lands triple jump gold for Nigeria and Kenya adds more gold medals in Delhi - Day 7 wrap

Nigeria's Tosin Oke /Photo by Yomi Omogbeja

Nigeria's Tosin Oke soared to gold in the men's Triple Jump ending a 44-year Gold medal drought for Nigeria in the event and Kenya completed its domination of the Commonwealth Games distance races on Tuesday in Delhi.

Oke, who used to jump for Britain, starting out with Cambridge Harriers achieved a jump of 17.16 metres in his second round attempt.

He narrowly beat Lucien Hugo Mamba-Schlick of Cameroon, who jumped a national record of 17.14 metres for silver and India's Renjith Maheswary who got bronze with 17.07 metres to add the Commonwealth title to the African crown he won in July.

The 30-year-old became the first Gold medal winner for Nigeria in this event since Samuel Igun won in 1966. He has been trained by Guy Spencer and John Herbert, the coach of Phillips Idowu and Jade Johnson.

On winning the gold, Oke said: "It feels great. I am not surprised but it was closer than I thought. It is good to perform on the world stage. This is great for me. It is my first International title."

And on the training camp he attended before the Commonwealth Games, he said it "helped me stay professional and focus on the job. I got it done".

Kenya dominates

Kenya's World champion Vivian Cheruiyot breezed to the women's 5,000m title while young gun Silas Kiplagat claimed the men's 1,500m gold medal.

The diminutive Cheruiyot dictated her race to cross the line in a slow 15 minutes and 55.12 seconds to lead another Kenyan clean sweep with Syliva Kibet (15:55.61) second and Ines Chenonge (16:02.47) third.

Cheruiyot, a former world junior cross country champion, has been in top form all season to the detriment of strong opposition, especially Ethiopians.

"We are dominant because we train very hard, we train all year long," she said, adding that she wasn't entirely happy with her race.

"It was not a very good sprint because I had already relaxed. I got a little bit tired."

Kiplagat is the fastest man in the world this year in 3:29.27 and while his time was some 13 seconds adrift of that, it capped a breakthrough year for the youngster who has stepped up in the absence of Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop.

He turned on the style with 200m to go and no-one could catch him with fellow Kenyan James Magut second in 3:42.27 and New Zealand's Nick Willis third in 3:42.38.

"The pace was slow, so I wanted to push the pace," said Kiplagat, who had never run out outside his country until a few months ago.

"I started sprinting at 200m. Usually I sprint at the 50m but they went slow. The time was only 3:41 but I'm very pleased."

Surprise Gold

India surprisingly won the women's 4x400m relay with Ashwini Akkunji overtaking a Nigerian opponent just before the final handoff and Mandeep Kaur sprinting to victory.

Akkunji started the third leg in second place, but she turned on the pace around the final bend and passed Nigeria's Bukola Abogunloko just before the final handoff.

Nigeria ended up with the silver medal in 3:28.72, and England earned bronze in 3:29.51.

In the men's 4x400, Australia took gold in 3:03.30. Kenya were next in 3:03.84 and England won another bronze in 3:03.97.

Selected Results

Triple Jump Men