Red-hot Manangoi eyes Diamond League success
Kenya's Elijah Motonei Manangoi celebrates the final of the men's 1500m at the 2017 IAAF World Championships at the London Stadium in London on August 13, 2017. PHOTO | ANTONIN THUILLIER | AFP
What you need to know:
- Kenyan middle-distance star Elijah Manangoi, fresh from a barn-storming victory at the IAAF World Championships, said Tuesday he is aiming to win the Diamond League.
- The 24-year-old policeman, who led a Kenyan 1-2 in the men's 1500m on the final day in London, helped restore Kenya's pride after what team members had termed a "tricky and an unpredictable" championship.
- Manangoi currently heads the rankings in his chosen distance ahead of the final two races of the season in Zurich and Brussels.
NAIROBI
Kenyan middle-distance star Elijah Manangoi, fresh from a barn-storming victory at the IAAF World Championships, said Tuesday he is aiming to win the Diamond League.
The 24-year-old policeman, who led a Kenyan 1-2 in the men's 1500m on the final day in London, helped restore Kenya's pride after what team members had termed a "tricky and an unpredictable" championship.
Manangoi currently heads the rankings in his chosen distance ahead of the final two races of the season in Zurich and Brussels.
He is the only Kenyan among 18 new world champions to be invited to the Weltklasse Diamond League meeting in Zurich on August 20.
The Zurich meet is being held in a new format where the best athletes of the season qualify to compete, regardless of their standings in the 12 preceding Diamond League meetings, and a $100,000-dollar winning prize is awarded in each event.
The Kenyan is also eyeing $50,000 in prize money if he can win the Diamond League in Brussels on September 1.
"I have already won two Diamond League races in Doha and Monaco with world-leading times, and a second-place finish in the Prefontaine classic meet in Eugene. This gives me enough motivation to win the Diamond League title for the first time," said Manangoi, a 2015 world silver medallist.
Only five points separate him from his training mate and current world silver medallist, Timothy Cheruiyot, who is in second place with 25 points.
World bronze medallist Filip Ingebrigtsen of Norway is in third, ten points further back.
