World champion Winfred Mutile Yavi (Bahrain) hardly faced any real problems to win the 3,000m steeplechase final at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games in China. She comfortably retained her Asian Games title in 9:18.28 min, improving the previous Asian Games record by more than 13 seconds.
“I had a lot of pressure from people telling me: You’re going to win”, said Winfred Mutile Yavi. “But anything can happen, so I was careful and focused on trying to improve the Asian Games record”, added she.
It was Winfred Mutile Yavi’s second gold medal in two days, as she also claimed gold in the 1,500m on Sunday night in 4:11.65 min, winning by more than a second.
“It (winning two gold medals) means I’m able to move on to different competitions. I don’t have to stay in the steeplechase for a long time. I can transition slowly to different competitions. I’ll do 5km or 10km road races and maybe even a marathon”, said Winfred Mutile Yavi.
Winfred Mutile Yavi is a Kenyan-born Bahraini female athlete who specializes in the 3,000m steeplechase. She won the gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships beating Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya) and finished fourth at both the 2019 and 2022 World Athletics Championships. Winfred Mutile Yavi won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. She took bronze in the 1,500m, gold in the 5,000m and gold for the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships.
