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Nairobi – The reshuffled World Athletics Diamond League schedule comes to an end on Friday in Doha, Qatar, and the best has surely been reserved for last with a galaxy of stars lining up in the Gulf capital, a hunting ground. Favourite. for the Legion of Kenya.
A loaded 3000m course will lower the curtain on the Qatari capital, with a clash between 5000m world champion Hellen Obiri and world steeplechase champion Beatrice Chepkoech.
Obiri opened his outdoor campaign in Monaco last month, winning the world-leading 5000m in 14: 22.12, just four seconds off his Kenyan record.
She also has fond memories of Doha as this is where she set a 3000m record in Kenya of 8: 20.68 in 2014, then followed it with wins over 3000m at the Doha Diamond League meeting last year and more. 5000m at the World Championships at the same location. .
Chepkoech also opened his outdoor season in Monaco, clocking 14: 55.01 for 5000m, and followed it up with a 9: 10.07 run for second place in the steeplechase at the Continental Tour meeting in Berlin earlier this month. .
The world hurdle record holder is one of four women on the field with a PB within 8:30.
Other athletes on the field who rose to the podium in Doha last year include 5000m silver medalist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, 10,000m bronze medalist and 2015 cross-country world champion Agnes Tirop, and bronze medalist from 1500 m Gudaf Tsegay.
The 16 women on the field hold a medal from a world or continental championship, or have a world or continental record.
The quality is such that everyone deserves a mention: 2015 steeplechase world champion Hyvin Kiyeng, U18 world champion Lemlem Hailu, U20 world champion Beatrice Chebet, 10,000m African Games champion Tsehay Gemechu, African 1500m champion Winny Chebet and African 1500m champion Quailyne Jebiwott Kiprop.
Meanwhile, the men’s 1500m has attracted Olympic and world medalists from the steeplechase and 5000m.
World and Olympic steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto will make his season debut in what will be his first 1,500m race in five years.
The 25-year-old Kenyan will join his two fellow World Championship medalists from last year, Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia and Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco, who have set PB this year of 3: 35.67 and 3: 34.51 respectively.
Kipruto may have proven time and time again that he is the best on the barriers, but this is a test to see who has the fastest standing speed.
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The 1500m will be without world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, because he is also decreasing in distance.
The Kenyan will contest the 800 meters, where he will face world bronze medalist Ferguson Rotich, fourth-place World Championship Bryce Hoppel, 2016 European bronze medalist Elliot Giles, Pan-American silver medalist Wesley Vázquez and Australian duo Peter Bol and Joseph Deng.
Cheruiyot has been undefeated since May 2019, but this will be their first 800-meter race in over a year, while nearly everyone else on the field has sharpened in two laps and arrives in Doha with the best records of the season. below 1:45.
Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon is another athlete heading to Doha after an undefeated run, and she too will go down the distance.
The 26-year-old Kenyan has achieved two 1000m victories this year, producing two of the five fastest times in history with her career of 2: 29.15 in Monaco and a 2: 29.92 victory in Brussels.
She followed with a dominant run of 3: 59.05 in 1500m, her specialist distance, at the Continental Tour Gold meet in Ostrava.
Friday’s race will be her first 800m start in five years, but her two-lap divisions from Monaco (1: 59.7) and Brussels (1: 59.2) suggest she is ready to run fast and could even challenge her 1 BP. : 58.02.
Winnie Nanyondo from Uganda, fourth-placed at last year’s World Championships, and 2013 world champion Eunice Sum will also line up for the 800 meters.
-By World Athletics
