'Re-energised' Sum dares to dream again

What a time for 2013 World 800m champion Eunice Sum to hit form and dare to dream again!

Sum, Kenya's lone ranger in the 800m race that is wide open with World and Olympics champion Caster Semenya out of the equation, says she is ready and raring to go in the World Championships in Doha.

“It’s unfortunate that promising Jackline Wambui had to withdraw, leaving me alone but I am up to the task, having been there before,” said the 31-year-old Sum, who then narrated how she has battled to get back to form after an illness locked her from the 2017 World Championships in London.

Sum was to left to battle at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow after her mentor Janeth Jepkosgei withdrew with an injury with Winny Chebet falling in the semis.

Sum would the following year win the Commonwealth Games 800m title in Glasgow, Scotland and Africa title in Marrakech, Morocco before settling for bronze at the 2015 Beijing World Championships after her colleagues were eliminated in the semis.

“It’s always good to have a colleague in the final but it’s a competition. I am glad to be making my fifth World event,” said Sum, who ran her second best time during the World Championships trials.

She won the 2013 World title with a personal best of 1:57.38 and would time 1:58.99 to finish second behind Wambui, who ran the fastest time on Kenyan soil of 1:58.79 since of Pamela Jelimo’s 1:57.71 during the trials for Beijing Olympics in 2008.

HISTORY

Jelimo went ahead to make history as the first Kenyan woman to win gold at the Olympics with victory in the two-lap race moments before Jebet Lagat won the women’s 1,500m gold.

“It’s has been a struggle since 2017...I have always performed well in training only to falter at events,” noted Sum, who failed to go past the heats in her 800m race at Africa Championships in Asaba, Nigeria where Caster Semenya reigned supreme.

“I really want to thank my coach Claudio (Berardelli) for being patient with me…he has been my pillar in athletics and the reason for my newly found form,” said Sum, who won the Zurich Diamond League leg on August 29 in a World Championships qualifying and season best time of 2:00.40.

“I wanted to run faster than that but the victory was inspiring since it was my first Diamond League win since 2015 at the same venue. It was motivating and a turning point for a new Sum,” said Sum.

NO FAVOURITE

Sum noted that even though the likes of World 800m bronze medallist Ajee Wilson (1:57.72) from USA, Jamaican Natoya Goule (1:57.90) and Britons Laura Muir (1:58.42) and Lynsey Sharp (1:58.61), have the best times this season, there is not clear favourite heading to Doha.

“Championships are always tactical and it doesn’t matter who is the fastest that season. Yes, some of these ladies have ran good times but remember I wasn’t favourite when I won in 2013,” said Sum, who has been training in Eldoret.

Sum said after Doha, she would want to give the 1,500m race a shot as she strategizes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Sum made her Olympics debut at the 2012 Summer Games in London in 1,500m where she failed to make it past the heats.