Edna Kiplagat leads Kenyan hunt in marathon
What you need to know:
- The third battlefront for Kiplagat and her team mates will be against Kenya’s traditional rivals Ethiopia who have four athletes in the field, led by reigning Tokyo Marathon champion Ruti Aga, whose fastest time this season has been 2:20:40, Shure Demise with a season’s fastest time of 2:21:05 and Roza Dereje with a season best of 2:20:52.
- On paper, 25-year-old Chepng’etich is the fastest woman in the field this season with a time of 2:17:08.
IN DOHA
When two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat leads former Paris Marathon champion Visiline Jepkesho and Dubai Marathon titlist Ruth Chepng’etich in the quest for gold medal in women’s marathon Friday night from 11.59pm, she will be fighting on three battle fronts as she seeks to wrestle back the title she won in the 2011 and 2013 editions of the championship.
First, Kiplagat will be out to atone for narrowly missing the gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in London, where she settled for silver medal after finishing seven seconds behind Kenyan-born Bahraini Rose Chelimo.
On that occasion, two years ago, Chelimo timed two hours, 27 minutes and 11 seconds to take gold ahead of Kiplagat who clocked 2:27.18 for silver, closely beating American Amy Craig who timed 2:27.18 to take bronze.
BELIEVE IN TEAMWORK
Kiplagat is keen to avoid past mistakes when she takes on her tormentor one more time.
“I know what happened in 2017 World Championships in London when Kenya missed the title and we are out to avoid a repeat of that,” she said after morning training session in Eldoret on August 26.
“We did a good training as a team and we hope this will happen during the championships. I believe in teamwork and we hope to perform well when we compete,” said Kiplagat.
Defending champion Chelimo has a season’s best 2:30:35.
The second battlefront for the 39-year-old athlete and her team mates will be against searing heat in Doha.
MUCH COOLER AT NIGHT
As opposed to past editions of the competition, marathon will be run at night this time round to shield athletes from high temperatures during the day in Doha, which are forecast to hit 37 degree Celsius on Saturday.
Doha is forecast to be much cooler at night, with temperatures dropping to 33 degrees Celsius. Jepkesho, Chepng’etich and Kiplagat left Nairobi on Monday when the night temperature was 19 degrees Celsius and although all the athletes will be subjected to the same conditions, the intervention of the weather can’t be ignored.
But Kiplagat reckons they are equal to the task ahead tonight.
“We have prepared well for the race since we learnt that we had been named in the team, and we thank all the stakeholders for the support accorded to us so far.
That aside, all the competitors will be subjected to the same conditions in the race,” she said in Eldoret when team officials presented training kits to the marathoners.
TRADITIONAL RIVALS ETHIOPIA
The third battlefront for Kiplagat and her team mates will be against Kenya’s traditional rivals Ethiopia who have four athletes in the field, led by reigning Tokyo Marathon champion Ruti Aga, whose fastest time this season has been 2:20:40, Shure Demise with a season’s fastest time of 2:21:05 and Roza Dereje with a season best of 2:20:52.
On paper, 25-year-old Chepng’etich is the fastest woman in the field this season with a time of 2:17:08.
MEN'S MARATHON TEAM
She is also holds the third fastest time in the marathon behind world record holder Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25) and Mary Keitany (2:17:01). Jepkesho’s best time this season is 2:22:58.
The other athletes to watch in the race are Kenyan-born Lonah Chemtai Salpeter of Israel who is the reigning champion of Prague Marathon with a season best of 2:19:46 and Bahrain’s Itaye Eshete with a season best of 2:22:39.
The men’s marathon team of defending champion Geoffrey Kirui, former Seoul Marathon champion Amos Kipruto, former Paris Marathon champion Paul Lonyangata and 2014 Toronto Marathon champion Laban Korir will compete on October 5.
Friday’s programme in Doha
(Times Kenyan):
4:30pm: Long jump (men) qualifying A&B;
4:35pm: 100m (men) preliminaries;
4:40pm: Hammer Throw (women) qualification A;
5:10pm: 800m (women) round one;
5:30pm: Pole vault (women) qualification A&B;
6:05pm: 100m (men) round one;
6:10pm: Hammer Throw (women) qualification B;
6:40pm: High jump (women) qualification A&B;
7:00pm: 3,000m steeplechase (women) round one;
7:25pm: Triple Jump (men) qualifying A&B;
7:55pm: 5,000m (men) round one;
8:30pm: 400m hurdles (men) round one;
Opening ceremony
11:59pm: Marathon (women) final.
