NAIROBI, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The rest of the athletics world's drought in the 3,000m steeplechase seems to be coming to an end after Kenya slowly but surely seems to be losing its grip on the race.
Acclaimed globally as 'Kenya's event,' the East African nation has dominated the race since the Mexico 1968 Olympics when Amos Biwott won the gold medal with compatriot Benjamin Kogo in tow for the silver medal.
The country has won a total of 10 gold medals at successive quadrennial games since then.
At the World Athletics Championships, 12 out of 13 winners at the water-and-barrier event have all been Kenyans; with three clean sweeps in Edmonton 2001, Osaka 2007, and Beijing 2015.
However, a spate of other countries have been slowly clawing their way into the event with remarkable podium finishes.
"Whereas other countries are investing and diversifying to other events, Kenya has stuck to its traditional races with the belief that the steeplechase is ours for the taking. Very soon tables will turn and we will have to start all over again," athletics technical director, George Kariuki, told Xinhua over the weekend.
He gave the example of Ethiopia, which is diversifying into other races like the 800m and 1,500m, and where they are posting exemplary performances outside of their usual comfort zone.
America ended its 32-year Olympic medal drought last year during the Rio Games after Evan Jager won a much-deserved silver medal behind Kenya's Conseslus Kipruto.
During this year's world championships in London, the Olympic champion won the event with Moroccan Soufiane Elbakkali and Jager sounding warnings to Kenya by obliterating the famed Kenyan with a 1-2-3 finish.
Buoyed by the men's performance in the event, Kenyan athletics officials decided to replicate the feat with the women also.
During the first women' s world championships in 2005 in Helsinki, Jeruto Kiptum won the country its first ever medal, a bronze. The country has never failed a podium finish since, with Milcah Chemos and Hyvin Jepkemoi respectively winning gold medals in 2013 in Moscow and 2015 in Beijing.
This year, the women's event was won by American Emma Coburn with her teammate Courtney Frerichs bagging silver medal. Hyving Kiyeng of Kenya won the bronze medal despite Kenya placing four women in the finals.
However, of major concern was the blunder by Beatrice Chepkoech who took a wrong turn during the steeplechase final at the London championships when she forgot to take the water jump and had to backtrack to clear the barrier.
The water jump is situated inside the track at the 200m mark but at the start of the event the runners don't go over it. It is cordoned off by witches' hats to ensure there are no mistakes, but on the second lap it is in play.
Chepkoech forgot and stayed on track before realizing her mistake as she was almost alongside the jump but quickly reversed and completed the jump which left her 50m behind the rest of the field.
"Such slip-ups should not be witnessed at a major event like the world championships and with such caliber of runners, then I think the country should be afraid," technical director George Kariuki warned.