TOKYO – Bahrain’s Kalkidan Gezahegne won the Kingdom’s first medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Saturday after clinching silver in the Women’s 10,000 metres final.

Kalkidan ran a brilliant race to finish in a time of 29 minutes 56.18 seconds. She was right behind gold-medallist Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who won in 29:55.32. Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, who was leading for much of the event, came third in 30:01.72.

Kalkidan stormed to a fine finish after pacing herself amongst the leaders for much of the distance. She and Hassan then closed the race out with a devastating kick that left Gidey unable to challenge over the home straight.

Kalkidan’s silver medal was her first in the Olympic Games. It is also Bahrain’s fourth medal in the history of the Olympiad. – Agencies