Mwangangi, Choge to renew rivalry with Britain's Farah

Kenya's World Indoor medallists Caleb Mwangangi and Augustine Choge will once again take the battle to double Olympic champion Mo Farah in the men’s 3,000m race at the Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday night.

Choge, the 2012 World Indoor 3,000m silver medallist, has had an impressive early season compared that started compared to Mwangangi, who is the reigning World Indoor 3,000m champion.

Choge started his season by winning the Duesseldorf 3,000m Indoor Meeting race on February 3 in Germany in a world leading time of 7:39.23.

Mwangangi clocked 7:39.82 in the same race to complete in a 1-2 Kenyan finish in a show of dominance in Germany.

Barely four days later, Choge chalked up his second win over the same distance at the Karlsruhe Indoor Meeting, clocking 7:43.22 to edge out World Junior 5,000m champion Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha to second place.

Mwangangi, the World 5,000m silver medallist came in fourth clocking 7:44.09.

CONTINUING BATTLES

On Wednesday, Choge had to settle for a third place finish in the 3,000m race where Mwangangi, who is also the Commonwealth and Africa 5,000m champion came in fourth.

The race was won by Moroccan Iguider Abdallati as Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha came in second world lead times of 7:38.04 and 7:39.11 respectively.

Farah, the reigning 5,000m and 10,000m World and Olympic champion, had to settle for second place at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country in January but with a solid block of altitude training in Ethiopia under his belt, the Brit will be looking to claim his first win of the year and exert his dominance over the distance.

Farah and Choge went head-to-head over 1,500m in Glasgow four years ago in an international match staged at Kelvin Hall to the west of the Emirates Arena.

On that occasion, Farah chalked out a hard-fought victory in 3:39.03 to Choge’s 3:39.14 before the tables were turned over 3,000m at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

In that race, Choge finished second as Farah came in fourth.

WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

A top-three finish in Glasgow would see Choge finish at the top of the World Indoor Tour standings for his event, guaranteeing him a wildcard entry for the World Indoor Championships slated for March in Portland, US.

Mwangangi and Farah faced-off last in 5,000m race at the World Championships in Beijing last year where the Briton reigned with the Kenyan settling for silver.

“It will be an interesting clash again meeting my friend Farah,” said Mwangangi.

Choge, Mwangangi and Farah’s appearance is a major coup for the meeting which is being staged for the first time in Scotland, having switched from its usual venue in Birmingham.

Farah had initially expressed his interest for the Indoor championships but has since changed his mind and will race at the World Half Marathon on March 26, in Cardiff Wales.