Working together to execute an aggressive frontrunning team strategy born from failure
two years ago in Bydgoszcz, 2018 Asian U20 3000 m gold medalist
Nozomi Tanaka and 2018 Asian Junior Cross Country gold medalist
Yuna Wada opened a massive lead over the African Junior Cross Country medalist Ethiopian duo of
Meselu Berhe and
Tsige Gebreselama in the early going of the
Tampere World U20 Championships women's 3000 m. Tanaka took the lead from the gun before Wada went out front at 200 m to set a fast pace. Through splits of 3:00 and 3:03 for the first 2000 m, Tanaka kicked hard from 300 m out to close with a 2:51 for Japan's first-ever gold medal in the event, winning in a PB of 8:54.01.
Berhe and Gebreselama caught Wada on the back corner but weren't even close to matching Tanaka, taking 2nd and 3rd in PBs just under the 9-minute mark. Wada just held off Kenyan
Jenali Jemutai Yego for 4th in 9:00.50, seeming happy in post-race interviews to have helped a teammate score gol…