Kenyans kick-start season in Monaco

Four world champions are among 15 Kenyan athletes who have been cleared to compete in Monaco’s leg of the Diamond League next Tuesday.

Hellen Obiri (5,000 metres), Beatrice Chepkoech (3,000m steeplechase), Conseslus Kipruto (3,000m steeplechase) and Timothy Cheruiyot (1,500m) were granted Schengen visas and are scheduled to leave for Monaco on Monday and return on Saturday next week.

Also cleared for the event are reigning Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Chepng’etich, world 800m bronze medallist Ferguson Rotich, Continental Cup 1,500m champion Winny Chebet and fast-rising junior Jacob Krop, who finished sixth at the 2019 Doha World Championships.

World Under-20 Championships 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist Leonard Bett, 2016 Africa 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist Abraham Kibiwott and World Under-20 1,500m record holder Ronald Kwemoi will also compete in the opening leg of the delayed Diamond League.

Others are Vincent Kipchumba (3,000m steeplechase), Timothy Sein (1,500m), Vincent Kibet and Nicholas Kipkorir and coach Bernard Ouma.

Chepkoech and Chebet will battle Obiri in women’s 5,000m where Chebet, who is also the Africa 1,500m champion, will pace the race where world 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands will also compete.

The last time Monaco hosted a long distance track event for women was in 2017 where Obiri won the 3,000m race.

Chepng’etich, the world 1,500m silver medallist, will compete in the 1,000m race where world 800m champion Halimah Nakaayi from Uganda will field as well as Briton Laura Muir and Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen, the European indoor 5,000m record-holder.

Kwemoi will partner with Krop for the 5,000m showdown that has attracted world cross country and world 5,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda and Henrik Ingebrigtsen of Sweden.

Cheruiyot, the two times winner in Monaco, will be on the starting list alongside the Ingebrigtsen brothers, Jakob and Filip.

The Kenyan athlete’s goal is to remain unbeaten in Monaco.