Uganda’s Jacob Kilimo won the title in Kampala in 2017
He will battle a crop of newcomers at the championships on Saturday next week.
An exciting battle is expected in junior men’s race at the IAAF Permit meet/national cross country trials at Eldoret Sports Club on February 23.
World Under-20 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist Leonard Bett, Maibei Kiplimo and Victor Chepkwony headline the battle for bragging rights to the 43rd IAAF World Cross Country Championships set for Aarhus, Denmark on March 30.
The race will also feature Albert Tonui of Rongai Athletics Club, third-placed finisher in last weekend’s Athletics Kenya Nairobi region championships.
World under-18 2,000m silver medalist Cleophas Kandie Meyan, who won the AK Kisii County Cross Country meeting, will lineup alongside Duncan Kiprotich and Gedion Rono.
“I will be happy to compete in my first national championships. I know most athletes long to secure tickets to Denmark but I am confident of making the team,” Kiplimo said after winning Nairobi region championships.
But he must be at his best to counter Bett, who won the opening leg of Athletics Kenya cross country series in Machakos.
“I have been doing well. I want to win more medals as a junior. I am focused and God willing, I will make the national team. I know other athletes have also prepared well. But I will run my race,” said Bett.
Gedion Rono, Vincent Kiprotich and Emmanuel Kiplang’at, who topped the Central Rift contest, are also hungry for glory.
Kenya and Ethiopia have dominated the junior men’s battle at the global stage only until 2017 when Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo emerged from obscurity to claim the title at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, Uganda, before a huge crowd that included President Yoweri Museveni.
In the last 11 years, Kenya has won eight gold medals while Ethiopia bask in nine as Uganda boasts of Kiplimo’s crown. Athletics Kenya will launch the IAAF Permit meet/National Cross Country Championships in Eldoret tomorrow where event title sponsor, Lotto Foundation, will be unveiled.
