Bring it on! Kamworor tells 10,000m opponents

What you need to know:

  • Athletes converge on Kasarani

World Half Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor has thrown down the gauntlet ahead of men’s 10,00m final of the National Police Service Athletics Championship that start Thursday at Kasarani.

Kamworor, who is seeking to represent Kenya at the World Championships in Doha this year, said he is ready to reclaim his Police title for his fourth victory.

“All has been well in training. I am good to go,” said Kamworor, the 2015 World 10,000m silver medallist, who has tentatively put his marathon training on hold. “This race is important. I want to use it to gauge my form and to see if I’m ripe for the World Championships trials."

It will be Kamworor’s second race this season. The two-time World Half Marathon and World Cross County winner relinquished his World Cross Country title to Ugandans Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo, who claimed gold and silver respectively on March 30 in Denmark.

Kamworor, 26, bounced back to win the Grand Prix 10 Mile race in Switzerland on May 11.

“I am aiming at the World Championships. I’ll focus on polishing my speed, especially in the last 1,000m since that is where I lost my previous 10,000m races,” said Kamworor, who finished 11th in 10,000m at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and sixth at the 2017 London World Championships.

Kamworor, who failed to defend his title last year, faces defending champion Josephat Bett, Kipsang Temoi, Cleophas Ngétich and Mathew Kisorio among others in the final that will go down today at 10.45am.

Former World champions Janeth Jepkosgei (2007) and Eunice Sum (2013) returns after a long lay-off and will highlight women’s 800m semi-finals starting at 12.25pm today. Jepkosgei and Sum will battle defending champion Emily Cherotich and Eglay Nalianya.