Ghana's William Amponsah ran his personal best of time to win the 5,000m in the maiden ECOWAS U-20 Athletics Championship in Cape Coast.
The 18-year-old long distance specialist won in 13 minutes 14.25.263 seconds, beating second placed Essodjenim Adejeya of Togo, who clocked 15:29.367 seconds.
Amponsah's performance on Friday puts him in a pole position to be selected for the 2018 World U20 Championships in Athletics, to be held at Ratina Stadium in Tampere, Finland on 10–15 July 2018.
The race was his third competition after his last minutes withdrawal from the Asante Akyem Marathon due to knee injury.
The teenager also came second in the 1500m, losing to his Nigerian challenger.
He had earlier this season won the 10,000m event at the GAA Circuit Championship, beating very quality opposition including the likes of Malik Yakubu on the day.
Fifteen other countries competed in the tournament which was being used to prepare athletes and keep them in shape for three major competitions in the world.
Under the theme “Unity through sports,” the GAA held the competition in partnership with Just Because Fitness,a Ghanaian sports promotion group.
By Fiifi Abdul Malik/ghanaguardian.com
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