Elite athletes to skip national championships
Kenya's Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku celebrates winning the final of the men's 5000m athletics event at Hampden Park during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, on July 27, 2014. PHOTO | BEN STANSALL
What you need to know:
- Olympic and World 3,000 steeplechase champion, Ezekiel Kemboi, who won in Eugene in 8:01.71 but performed poorly in Oslo and Paris, will train for the trials.
- World 800m champion and Diamond League Series leader Eunice Sum has opted to stay away from the nationals.
Most elite athletes will not compete in the National Athletics Championships starting on Thursday at Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani.
The athletes will either be taking part in the Lausanne leg of the Diamond League or other IAAF Challenge or Permit events in Europe. Some have opted to train for the World Championships trials due July 31 to August 1 at the Nyayo National Stadium.
Commonwealth and Africa 5,000m champion Caleb Mwangangi and World Cross-country silver medallist Bedan Karoki will make a return from injury for their first Diamond League appearance in Lausanne on Thursday.
MWANGANGI RETURNS
Mwangangi will return after pulling a hamstring during the Athletics Kenya track and field meeting in April in Nakuru. Karoki sustained a tendon injury during training just after winning silver at the World Cross-country Championships on March 28 in Guiyang, China.
“My body has been responding well to training and there is no pain in the leg,” said Karoki, who will be using the 5,000m to gauge his speed as he prepares for the 10,000m race World trials.
Mwangangi is targeting a place in the 5,000m team for the Worlds so he can face Mo Farah. Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar is under siege for allegedly being involved in doping scandals and featured in a joint BBC Panorama and ProPublica investigation into doping allegations.
Other Kenyans in the race that will feature beleaguered Olympic and World champion Mo Farah is the 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Thomas Longosiwa and 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Edwin Soi.
Commonwealth champions Mercy Cherono (5,000m) and Faith Chepng’etich (1,500m) crossed over from Paris to Lausanne for the 1,500m race alongside former world junior 1,500m champion Viola Kibiwott and Irene Jelagat.
Commonwealth 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist Jairus Birech, who upheld his Series lead with a meet record and world lead victory of 7:58.83 on Saturday in Paris, leads a horde of Kenyan athletes to Hungary.
Olympic and World 3,000 steeplechase champion, Ezekiel Kemboi, who won in Eugene in 8:01.71 but performed poorly in Oslo and Paris, will train for the trials.
World 800m champion and Diamond League Series leader Eunice Sum has opted to stay away from the nationals. Commonwealth and Africa javelin champion Julius Yego, Olympic champion and world 800m record holder David Rudisha, national champion Ferguson Rotich, World Junior champion Alfred Kipketer and Job Kinyor will compete in Lausanne.
