Agent applies the brakes on fast Jelimo

Olympic world 800m champion Pamela Jelimo will not run in any high-profile race until after the World Championship, her agent, Barnabas Korir, said.

With less than three weeks to the Madrid International Athletics Meeting, Jelimo, who had been invited as an elite runner, will not honour the fixture to be ran at the Moratalaz Sports Centre on July 4.

“It will be suicidal if I allowed her to compete in any other meeting this time as everyone is focusing on the trials for the World Championship. I need her to regain her confidence, run in small meetings and see how she fares,” said Korir.

The Madrid International is a Grand Prix status meeting as part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour. Since her expected victory in 2008 in the Beijing Olympics, Jelimo has failed to reclaim the fitness that saw her run the 800m in 1:54.01 in Zurich, Switzerland, to post an African and World junior record.

Trounced twice

Instead, she has been trounced twice – in Rabat, Morocco, and Eugene in the United States – running a slow race where she failed to dip under the two-minute mark. She was sixth in Rabat (2:02.46) and last in Prefontaine Classic (2:05.57).

Now Jelimo will start her rebuilding exercise with a Athletics Kenya weekend race in Nairobi, where she is due to run in the AK Nairobi Branch athletics championship at Nyayo National Stadium. The absence of other high-profile runners in the two-lap race might motivate Jelimo into winning the race and turn around her confidence.

This might send her to her best form again. “She needs to win these low-profile races locally. Then I will arrange for her to run in one race abroad, just to see how she will perform. But, for now, it is a complete freeze on her running abroad,” said Korir.

Jelimo’s arrival on the international scene last year caused a revolution in 800m running. Then only 18 (she celebrated her 19th birthday on December 5), she dominated her 15 races over the distance, including the Beijing Olympics final. She won all with her traditional front running approach.