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Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot trumped defending champion Meseret Defar of Ethiopia in a sprint to the line in the women's 5000m at the World Athletics Championships.

Cheruiyot, a Sydney Olympic Games finalist at aged 16 who won silver in the last worlds in Osaka in 2007, had led for much of the race but was overtaken by Defar with 150 metres to go to the finish.

It looked like Defar would be celebrating an Ethiopian gold in the absence of injured team-mate and Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba, but Cheruiyot produced a stunning fightback to nip in at the line at 14min 57.98sec.

As Defar eased off in the knowledge that she had been defeated, Cheruiyot's compatriot Sylvia Kibet stole in for silver in 14:58.33, for the second one-two podium finish for Kenya on Saturday following the men's marathon.

"With our team we decided to go at a fast pace, to push," said Cheruiyot. "We did not know how the others could do in their final lap.

"It has been such a long time that Kenya has not got the gold medal in the 5000m.

"On my last 100 metres I was pushing so hard. I like fast races because if the race is not fast there can still be 10 athletes in the last lap at the same time. Anybody can win then with a good sprint."

Kibet was just happy to get on to the podium.

"I'm very grateful to have a medal because I was fourth in Osaka and fourth again in Beijing," she said.

Defar, however, said she was "very disappointed".

"I expected to get gold but I wasn't successful," she said. "I'm very sad. The pace wasn't too fast. I was confident I could win gold but I don't know what happened."

Japan's Yuriko Kobatashi made the early running with the pack close on her heels.

Defar hit the front with almost nine of the 12-and-a-half lap race to go, followed by team-mate Sentayehu Ejigu and the Kenyan trio of racers.

With a none-too-demanding pace of around 1:12 a lap, Cheruiyot took up the running, Defar happy to sit on her shoulder as the strides lengthened.

At the final bell, Cheruiyot bolted and retained the lead around to the final bend.

Defar came in with her kick and she entered the back straight ahead and seemingly destined for gold, but she had not counted on Cheruiyot's sticking power.

The result is a blow to Ethiopia, for whom Olympic champion and world recorder holder Dibaba was injured but would have been firm pre-race favourite if fit.

Dibaba, a two-time world champion over the 5000m (2003 and 2005) who is also the Olympic 10,000m champion, had already pulled out of the longer race last weekend after suffering from an ankle injury all season.

Turkey's Ethiopian-born double Olympic silver medallist Elvan Abeylegesse, who pulled up during the 10,000m race, also failed to start the 5000m.

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AFP