It’s Kamworor, Kandie vs Cheptegei and rest of world

In Bathurst, Australia

The world’s best distance runners converge on the Mount Panorama Motor Speedway here on Saturday chasing individual glory and pride of country at the 44th World Cross Country Championships.

The races will run under sweltering heat in this small town of 37,000 people but with hordes of tourists from various parts of sports-mad Australia.

Kenya’s greatest hope, Geoffrey Kamworor, and his team mate Kibiwott Kandie, are here with pretty impressive CVs.

They face two Ugandans who have recently emerged as the most consistent and dominant figures in global athletes: defending champion Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo.

Also in the mix is Ethiopia’s Olympic 10,000 metres champion Selemon Barega accompanied by his compatriot Berihu Aregwi.

Unless otherwise, a possible winner will come from this group. The Kenyan team is compact, oozing confidence and having a slight advantage over their opponents after arriving four days before Saturday’s competition to acclamatise.

The athletes woke up at 6:00am (local time) yesterday for a morning run on the streets before finally finding an open playfield for mid-morning training.

They will see and test the competition course on Thursday.

Other top contenders are the former world half marathon record-holder Kandie, Sabastine Kimaru Sawe along with Olympic and world 5,000m finalist Nicholas Kipkorir who have been directed by the technical bench to run their own races for individual glory, but also seek to reclaim the senior men’s title Kenya last won in 2011. Bring in runners from Burundi and Eritrea, and the matrix is complete.

Battle royale

It is an impressive field in a battle being fought in the southern hemisphere for the first time in 27 years after Stellanboch, South Africa, in 1996 and Auckland, New Zealand, 1988.

This battle royale reminds Kenyans of similar clashes five times world champions John Ngugi and Paul Tergat, in their respective eras, had to endure from pressure-cooking Ethiopians in the mold of Kenenisa Bekele, the unbeatable man of his time and a legion of his countrymen then.

Cheptegei is the defending champion and Kiplimo second in the last edition at a very demanding course in Arhus, Denmark, in 2019.

The eastern Africa region’s other nation with a good chance for success is Burundi which will field Thierry Ndikumwenayo, ninth in 2019, the best for his country ever.

Kamworor is exuding confidence. “Not that I don’t know them. We compete together.

They are our greatest opponents but we are well prepared for them. I know myself,” said the 2017 world champion after a morning training session at a nearby open football field on a hot day in this small town, once the most prosperous during the Australian gold rush of the mid-1800s.

Kamworor has the same aim.

With his own 2022 injury struggles behind him, the 30-year-old — winner of the U20 world cross country title in Punta Umbria in 2011 as a junior before his senior wins in Guiyang in 2015 and Kampala in 2017 — says he has trained enough to regain this prestigious title.

Police officer Kamworor is coming to these championships with a stellar performance at home including the Police championships crown and six week of training in Kigari, Embu, together with team Kenya compatriots under similar weather conditions prevalent here. With Sawe, Kibiwott, Kipkorir and Kamworor in the squad, the nation has a strong opportunity to claim the senior men’s team title which Uganda won in 2017.
In Uganda’s favour.

But one will never predict cross country especially at the Mount Panorama circuit which has steep hills and looping corners.

“People are saying that I will win gold. To me it all depends on how I will wake up,” said Kandie.

“Competition will be seen when we are competing. I wish others the best because I will be competing in my race.” A successful title defence by Cheptegei will mean the balance of power is tilting towards Uganda’s favour.