London, Aug 14 (IANS): Kenya continued their domination of the men's 1,500 metres event with Elijah Motonei Manangoi and Timothy Cheruiyot taking the top two spots on the podium at the IAAF World Championships here.

Manangoi won the gold medal with a time of 3 minutes and 33.61 seconds on Sunday night. Cheruiyot, who gave his compatriot a tough fight during the sprint on the final stretch, narrowly missed out on the top spot and had to be content with the silver.

Cheruiyot was just 0.38 second behind the winner, finishing with a time of 3:33.99. Filip Ingebrigtsen of Norway finished in 3:34.53 to take home the bronze medal.

It was the third time in the past four World Championships that Kenyan athletes had filled the top two spots in the men's 1500m.

"It was such a good race and I'm so pleased to be a world champion," Manangoi was quoted as saying by the official website of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). 

"I had a difficult race as Timothy raced very well, but I had that extra strength," he added.

Spain's Adel Mechaal crossed the line in fourth, just about holding off a fast-finishing Jakub Holusa of the Czech Republic, who had overtaken Sadik Mikhou of Bahrain further up the home stretch.

Marcin Lewandowski of Poland and New Zealand's Nicholas Willis rounded out the top eight.

"We prepared well for this. He is my friend, so I am happy for him to win gold and for me to win silver," Cheruiyot, who trains alongside Manangoi, said.