Battle of the World Champions: Rudisha, Bett collide at Eldoret meet

The 400m is expected one of the most thrilling moments at the final leg of Athletics Kenya Track and Field Championships which start on Thursday at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret.

Just sample this: a final featuring the national champion Alphas Kishoyian, 400m hurdles World champion Nicholas Bett, Olympic and World 800m champion David Rudisha.

Then slot in Bett’s brother Haron Koech, World 400m hurdles finalist Boniface Mucheru and World Indoor finalist Boniface Mweresa. Simply breathtaking!

National champion Kishoyian - who lost in the preliminaries at the World Championships last year - will be out to prove his prowess in the one-lap race even after finishing second in Nakuru a month ago behind Collins Omae.

Kishoyian, 22, has a personal best of 44.75 posted when he won the national trials for the Worlds last year.

Bett, who has been refining in South Africa, launches his track season in Eldoret before heading to Barcelona for further training on May 1 ahead of his Diamond League season starting in Shanghai on May 11.

“I intend to compete in all Diamond League events will hurdles and feature as a pacesetter in 800m races,” said Bett. “My target is the Olympic Games gold having won the World title. I will be the person to beat in Rio for sure.”

Rudisha, who has a personal best 45.50 from Sydney 2010, comes to the race in great form, having begun his Olympic season with a world lead time victory 1:44.78 in 800m at the IAAF World Challenge Meeting in Melbourne on March 5 before running 1:44.89 in Perth.

Rudisha will compete in 800m in Shanghai on May 14 before heading to Birmingham for 600m battle on June 5 as he prepares to try to join the exclusive group that has defended Olympic gold medals.

MUCHERU IN THE MIX

Mucheru, who won the 2014 Africa 400m bronze medal in a personal best 45.07, also opens his season in Eldoret, having finished fifth in 400m hurdles at Beijing Worlds.

Mweresa, 22, who has pitched camp in Nyeri with his Kenya Defence Forces team, predicted fast times.

“I hope to be there if all goes well but that is subject to confirmation from our team managers knowing that we have our championships next week,” said Mweresa, who dashed to a personal best of 45.01 when winning silver in 400m at African Games in September. “I can predict 44 seconds from such a rich field.”

Mweresa and Kishoyian are the only Kenyans who have qualified for the Rio Olympics in the one-lap race.