Kenyans hunt for Diamond League points in Lausanne
Kenya's Abraham Kibiwot competes in the men's 3000m steeplechase final athletics event at the Alexander Stadium, in Birmingham on day nine of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, central England, on August 6, 2022.
What you need to know:
- World 10,000m bronze medallist Margaret Chelimo will scale down to 3,000m where Ethiopians Hawi Feysa (8:39.88), Birke Haylom (9:09.9), Fantu Worku (8:30.76) and Axumawit Embaye (8:43.83) and Dutch’s Sifan Hassan (8:18.49) await.
- Kenyan-born Kazakhstan’s Caroline Kipkirui (8:29.05), Great Britain’s Laura Muir’s (8:30.64), Australia’s Jessica Hull (8:36.03) and Burundian Francine Niyonsaba (8:19.08) are also in the field.
Kenyan stars will be out to get more Diamond League points when they line up in their respective races in the Lausanne leg on Friday.
The final leg of the Diamond League series will be in Brussels, Belgium on September 7-8.
Commonwealth Games 3,000m steeplechase champion Abraham Kibiwott, who has a personal best of 8:05.72, will be out to show his triumph in Birmingham two weeks ago was no fluke.
Kibiwott, who trains in Mosoriot, Nandi County, has a horde of Kenyan stars in the frame of Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Amos Serem (8:09.93), Leonard Bett (8:08.61), Wilberforce Kones (8:21.42) and Lawrence Kemboi (8:11.26) to content with in the race.
Kenyans will however have a bigger headache in the race - Olympic and World champion Soufiane El Bakkali (7:58.15), Ethiopians Abrham Sime (8:12.11) and Wale Getnet (8:05.21), Eritrea’s Yemane Haileselassie (8:11.22) - are all in the field which promises to be explosive.
Serem told Nation Sport that he was happy with his bronze medal from Birmingham but he has been hard at work ahead of the race in Lausanne.
“I’m still learning in various events but I’m happy for the season so far. It has been a journey and my target is to always improve on my performance on the remaining races this season. I’m in good shape,” said Serem, who trains under the Global Sports Communications stable in Kaptagat, Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Kenya's Commonwealth Games silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot (3:28.28), World Indoor Championships bronze medallist Abel Kirui (3:29.56), Norway's Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Ethiopia’s Teddese Lemi (3:31.90), Spain’s Mario Garcia (3:30.20) and Great Britain’s Jake Heyward (3:31.08) are all in contention in a star-studded 1,500m field.
World 10,000m bronze medallist Margaret Chelimo will scale down to 3,000m where Ethiopians Hawi Feysa (8:39.88), Birke Haylom (9:09.9), Fantu Worku (8:30.76) and Axumawit Embaye (8:43.83) and Dutch’s Sifan Hassan (8:18.49) await.
Kenyan-born Kazakhstan’s Caroline Kipkirui (8:29.05), Great Britain’s Laura Muir’s (8:30.64), Australia’s Jessica Hull (8:36.03) and Burundian Francine Niyonsaba (8:19.08) are also in the field.
