Geordie Beamish Stuns El Bakkali To Take World Steeplechase Gold at Tokyo 205

TOKYO (15-Sep) -- In front of some 50,000 fans at National Stadium here tonight, New Zealand's Geordie Beamish upset two-time world and Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco and won the 3000m steeplechase with an explosive sprint from over 100 meters out.  Beamish, 28, who won the world indoor 1500m in Glasgow in 2024, caught the tall Moroccan just before the line.  His margin of victory was just 7/100ths of a second, 8:33.88 to 8:33.95.  

"A bit of deja vu," Beamish told reporters with a laugh when asked if his win tonight felt similar to his victory in Glasgow where he swept past the field in the final 50 meters.  "Special to do it on the outdoor track.  I never thought I was going to be a world champion once; to be one twice is totally surreal."

Beamish, who lives in Boulder, Colo., and trains with the On Athletics Club, benefited from the race's unusually slow pace.  None of the athletes wanted to take it out, and the first kilometer was passed in an improbably slow 3:04.78, almost identical to the 3:04.90 Faith Cherotich ran in the first heat of the women's steeplechase preliminary round this morning. 

Kenya's Edmund Serem was the leader, and Beamish was back in tenth place and El Bakkali was even further back in 16th and last place.

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"I just couldn't believe it, that it was left this late and as slow as it was," said Daniel Michalski, the only USA athlete in the final.

Remarkably, the pace barely picked up in the second kilometer (2:56.6).  Both Beamish and El Bakkali remained well back from the front, running in 11th and 16th place, respectively.  

Moments later, Michalski made a move to break up the race.  He surged ahead with about two laps to go.  The three Ethiopians in the race --Samuel Firewu, Lamecha Girma and Getnet Wale-- all gave chase along with Serem, Germany's Frederik Ruppert, and Canada's Jean-Simon Desgagnes.  Beamish did not react and was back in 15th place.  He was waiting for the right moment to make his move.

"By 150 (meters to go) I had found a bit of clear air," Beamish said.  "The backstraight got hectic; I was dodging and weaving a bit.  I've been in that position several times over the years and I'd back myself against anyone else in the world."

With 300 meters to go, Girma passed Michalski.  Wale and El Bakkali were very close behind, while Beamish was running in 11th.  The Kiwi continued to work his way up, and coming out of the final water jump he was in fourth position.  Just like in Glasgow, he swung wide and began his final sprint.  El Bakkali was running urgently to the line, hoping to wrap up yet another title.  Beamish had other ideas.

"The water jump wasn't great, but I found some clear air with 100 to go," Beamish recounted.  "Yeah, just foot on the gas."

Beamish did not pass El Bakkali until the two rivals were inside of the last 10 meters.  It was unclear whether Beamish surprised the Moroccan, but El Bakkali looked shocked when he realized that he had lost.  He wept openly in the mixed zone under the stadium and did not stop to speak with the media.

Beamish's victory was made even sweeter because of the injury troubles he had since last summer when he failed to get out of the preliminary round at the Paris Olympics, and because he fell in his preliminary heat here and got his nose stepped on by another athlete.  Indeed, he had only raced the steeplechase twice this year prior to these championships.

"It's been a tough kind of 14, 15 months," Beamish said.  He added: "I wouldn't say there were dark moments in the last year, but I would say there were really hard moments."

Serem ended up with the bronze medal just edging Firewu, 8:34.56 to 8:34.68.  Michalski, who broke the race open, finished ninth.

PHOTO: Geordie Beamish of New Zealand winning the world steeplechase title in Tokyo  (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)