Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor will be longing to kill two birds with one stone when he lines up at the 21st IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, Great Britain, on March 26.
The 23-year-old Kamworor seeks to successfully defend his title as he also renews rivalry with Britain’s world and Olympic champion Mo Farah.
“I am ready to face him again. I will compete against him now for the second time in a championship and hope it will go on well,” Kamworor told FeverPitch yesterday.
“I hope to challenge him before Olympics where I expect to meet him in 10,000m in Brazil. I have learned from my mistakes in Beijing. It only takes hard work and determination to beat him,” he said.
Kamworor proved he was no pushover as he chalked up victory at the Old Stock Exchange in Borsen in Copenhagen, Denmark in the World Half last year.
He will marshal forces alongside World Cross Country silver medallist Bedan Karoki, New York Marathon winner Stanley Biwott, Edwin Kiptoo and Jonathan Maiyo.
Kamworor, who currently lies 10th on the world half marathon all-time list with a personal best of 58:54, has already said that Zersenay Tadese’s world record of 58:23 could be lowered in Cardiff.
Karoki and Biwott, who has a personal best time of 58.56, were also the second and third fastest half marathon runners in the world last year. In the 24-year history of the World Half Marathon Championships, no athlete has been more successful than Zersenay Tadese, who has won four successive individual titles between 2006 and 2009, settled for silver in 2010 and then returned to the top of the podium in 2012 to take his fifth individual gold medal.
Although he missed an individual medal in Copenhagen in 2014, he still collected another gold medal as Eritrea won the team competition. It brought his World Half Marathon Championships medal tally to 13, six of which are gold.
Former world marathon record holder Paul Tergat, who won in 1999 and 2000, has won more than one individual title at the World Half Marathon Championships.
