Kenya's Langat wins women's 1500m

By Simon Evans

BEIJING (Reuters) - Kenya's Nancy Jebet Langat won the gold medal in the women's 1500 meters at the Bird's Nest stadium on Saturday in a time of four minute 00.23 seconds.

In an open field, Ukraine took silver and bronze medal positions through Iryna Lishchynska and Nataliya Tobias.

Favorite Maryam Jamal of Bahrain led until she was overtaken by Langat, who had stuck tightly behind her, with 250 meters remaining.

Jamal, the current world champion, faded badly and missed out on a medal position, ending up in fifth place.

The Ethiopian-born runner said she had felt ill. "What happened? I was sick," she said.

Langat, who only made the semi-finals in Athens four years ago, timed her move to perfection, having the acceleration to take the lead and the endurance to keep the Ukrainians at bay.

"I was very surprised. I knew Jamal was very strong and expecting to win the race, I was not expecting to be a gold medalist," said the Kenyan. "I just stayed behind them and then the last 300, I tried to push."

Lishchynska said she had benefited from a combination of good fortune and hard work.

"I feel so lucky to win a silver. I'm so excited that I performed so well here, I sacrificed a lot for this event and second place in the Olympic Games is beautiful," she said.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)