Mwangangi and Co. out to stop Farah in 5000m final
Athletes compete in the men's 5000 metres athletics event at the 2015 IAAF World Championships at the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium in Beijing on August 26, 2015. PHOTO | GREG BAKER |
What you need to know:
- Double world champion Mo Farah out to retain his title
- Asbel, Cheruityot, Manangoi and Kiplagat in men’s 1,500m final
- In the women’s 800m final, Eunice Sum has vowed to retain her title.
IN BEIJING
Kenya’s Caleb ‘Buffalo’ Mwangangi will lead team-mates Edwin Soi and Isaiah ‘Chairman’ Kiplangat in a potentially explosive showdown with Great Britain’s Mo Farah in the 5000m final on Saturday.
Farah has already grabbed gold in the 10,000m but it won’t be easy for the Briton this afternoon. Mwangangi, who is the Commonwealth champion, 2008 Olympics bronze medallist Soi and 2013 Moscow bronze medalist Kiplagat believe they can succeed where Geoffrey Kamworor, Paul Tanui and Bedan Karoki failed.
Mwangangi ran his season’s best of 13:19.58 to finish fourth in the fastest heat that benefited Kiplagat who advanced as one of the five fastest losers in 13:23.5. Kenya is hoping to produce a first winner in the race since Benjamin Limo won it in the 2005 edition in Helsinki, Finland.
Mwangangi, who collected five titles last year - the World Indoor, Commonwealth, African, World Cup and IAAF Diamond League - is the favourite to offer Farah his stiffest test in the final.
In the women’s 800m final, Eunice Sum has vowed to retain her title.
She stunned the world by winning gold after beating experienced runners in Moscow in 2013. And although Sum didn’t have a good semi-final, finishing third in 1:57.56, she’s confident of victory on Saturday.
“Championships are usually unpredictable and you can see many top names are not in the final but that does not worry me, I will face them,” she said after the race.
“I’m not used to running from behind, so I decided to go to the front from the gun. I was worried in the last 50m when my legs became quite heavy but all will be well in the final,” Sum said. The biggest challenge here will come from the 2009 world champion Caster Semenya.
1500M IN SIGHT
In the men’s 1,500m, all Kenyans sailed to the final.
Asbel Kiprop, Timothy Cheruityot, Elijah Manangoi and Silas Kiplagat successfully navigated their way through. Kiprop, who won the title in Daegu in 2011 and in Moscow 2013, is however wary of Nicholas Willis of New Zealand.
Kiprop won the first semi-final in 3:43.48, ahead of Willis, who came strongly in the last 50 metres to clock 3:43.57 for second position. “He clocked 3:29.66 in Monaco and we will need to run a championship race against him,” Kiprop said, referring to his win in a fast season’s time of 3:26.69 in Monaco Diamond League where the New Zealander was second.
Kiprop said any of the four Kenyans is capable of winning. “Manangoi, Kiplagat and Cheruiyot are very good runners and can win. The important thing is to ensure the title we won in Moscow remains in Kenya,” Kiprop said.
Manangoi, who is appearing in the World Championship for the first time, singled out Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi - who finished second in the second heat in 3:35.05 - as a threat. “Today was my third time to run against him. He’s very tactical. So you cannot predict how the final will be,” Manangoi said.
