A tale of two world champs from Keringet

IN LONDON

Faith Chepng’etich Kipyegon has placed the sleepy village of Keringet in Nakuru County onto the global map again.

She did it by winning the 2014 Commonwealth and 2016 Olympics 1,500 metres titles, and she did it again on Monday night by winning gold in her specialty in the World Championships in London after timing 4min 02.59sec.

Her village-mate Geoffrey Kirui, winner of the men’s marathon at the World Championships here in London, also adds to Keringet’s enviable status as home of world-beating stars.

Chepng’etich and Kirui say Keringet provides training conditions that favour middle and long distance runners.

Both agree that Keringet’s high altitude conditions provided them with good environment for training before they moved to Team Kenya’s training camps in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County (for marathoners) and Nairobi (for track and field athletes). Interestingly, besides coming from the same village, Kirui and Chepng’etich are in-laws.

Kirui is married to Chepng’etich’s elder sister, Caroline, and the couple has been blessed with three children - five-year-old Godwin Kimweno, Godfrey Rotich (four) and Kevin Kipkoech (nine months).

Kirui says the perfect training conditions in Keringet enabled him to win both the 2017 Boston Marathon in April, and the world title on Sunday here.

“Our training base in Keringet is 2,600 metres above sea level which is perfect for me,” said Kirui who, like Chepng’etich, is managed by Jos Hermen's Global Sports Communications.

And Kirui is a religious man who prays before races.

“I called my coaches (Sammy Bii, David Letting and Julius Kirwa) and my in-law Chepng’etich here and we had a word of prayer before going for the race on Sunday,” Kirui said on Monday.

He admits that Ethiopian Tamirat Tola put him under a lot of pressure in the race and, having read his mind, he decided to slow down and follow the Ethiopian from a distance.

“Tola is a good athlete and after giving me a lot of pressure, I pretended that I was worn out and I slowed down. When I saw him also slowing down, I knew that was my chance to increase my speed which worked well for me,” said Kirui.

Kirui said he wanted Chepng’etich to win both for Kenya and for their extended family. Kirui heaped praise on Chepng’etich as a disciplined and focused athlete capable of improving on her performance every year.

Chepng’etich said she had worked hard in training knowing that stiff competition awaited her in the final.

“I trained well and I was much prepared since I knew everyone would be looking at me. (Genzebe) Dibaba, Sifan (Hassan), (Caster) Semenya and Laura (Muir) were all good but I triumphed,” she said of competition.

Her dream is to keep winning and she revealed that she will be seeking to reclaim her Commonwealth Games title next year in Gold Coast, Australia.

“I won’t stop here because there is a lot to do. The western countries are not sleeping and they are working hard to beat Kenyans and so I will be working hard to retain my title next year in April at the Commonwealth Games,” she said.

Back at home, there is no doubt there will be a big reception to welcome the two in the now famous village of Keringet after their golden achievements.