Kenyans miss out as Edris retains world 5,000 title

IN DOHA

Ethiopian athletes on Monday gave Kenya a stark reminder of their country’s dominance in men’s 5000 metres race with a 1-2 performance at the World Championships in Doha.

The going got tough for Kenya’s Jacob Krop who wound up sixth in the race with a time of 13 minutes, 03.08 seconds. Kenya’s other representative in the final race, Nicholas Kimeli, finished eighth in 13:05:07.

Kimeli told Nation Sport that fatigue made him lose the race.

“Generally speaking, we had a good race. However, I competed in two many races in the 2019 Diamond League season and my form dropped. I will rectify that later to fight for a chance to represent Kenya,” he said on Monday.

Krop said he struggled in the race after failing to time his run well after the second lap.

“I had been running just behind the leading group going into the second lap but I did not time my run well,” he said.

Krop said his next target will be to win gold medal at the 2020 World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi.

“I am still a junior athlete, and it would be good to win at home before my home fans,” he said.

Kimeli also said he eyeing a place in Kenya’s team for the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.

In a dominant display, 2016 Olympics champion Mukrat Edris timed 12 minutes and 58.85 seconds to claim the gold medal ahead of his compatriot Selemon Barega who returned in second place in a time of 12:59.70.

Defending champion Edris also finished seventh over 5000m in 2013 World Championships held in Moscow.