Third time lucky? Timothy Cheruiyot goes for 1500m gold

IN DOHA

All eyes will be on World and Commonwealth Games 1,500 metres silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot when he lines up alongside compatriot Ronald Kwemoi in the final of the metric mile race at the World Championships from 7.40pm on Sunday.

Cheruiyot, who is seeking to upgrade the silver medal he claimed at the 2017 World Championships in London to gold here in Doha, is the fastest man this season in the field.

His season best time of 3 minutes and 28.77 seconds is faster than any other athletes in the final. Cheruiyot also posted the fastest time of 3:36.53 in Friday’s semi-finals, making him one of the title favourites.

And Cheruiyot, who employed his front-running tact win his semi-final heat on Friday, has said they will be careful not to fall prey to opponents who have been keen to spoil Kenya’s game plan at the championship.

“We ran well in the semi-final and I am happy Kwemoi also qualified for the final. We ran from the front to escape pushing and shoving from our opponents,” Cheruiyot, who was promoted from the rank of a Constable to an Inspector at the Kenya Prisons Service just days before leaving for Doha with team Kenya, told Nation Sport in Doha.

Every race needs a strategy, and Cheruiyot said he and Kwemoi would sit down with the coaches to come up with one.

On Friday, Cheruiyot singled out 2012 Olympic champion Toufik Makhloufi from Algeria, who finished second behind him in the semi-finals, Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen as the biggest threat to their title ambitions.

“There were strong athletes in the semi-finals who will run in the final. Makhloufi is a strong guy, and there is also Lewandowski and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, so we need to plan our strategy well."

THIRD TIME LUCKY?

The 19-year-old Ingebrigtsen from Norway won the European 1,500m and 5,000m titles in Berlin this year. He also won gold in 3000m and silver in 1500m at 2019 European Indoor Championships in Glasgow. There is also Great Britain’s Josh Kerr who is the 2015 European Championships Under-20 champion with a personal best time of 3:33.60.

With defending champion Elijah Manangoi out of the championship through injury, Cheruiyot and Kwemoi will be seeking to ensure the title remains in Kenya. It will be Cheruiyot’s third appearance at the World Championships. He finished seventh in the 2015 edition in Beijing and claimed silver in 2017 London.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kwemoi is competing in the World Championships for the first time.