Emmanuel Wanyonyi will be the only Kenyan reigning world champion at the inaugural Ultimate Championships, set to kick off in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday.
The Olympic champion will be among 381 global stars who are eyeing glory and the ultimate Sh9 million winner’s prize money.
Although Kenya’s reigning world and Olympic champions, including Faith Kipyegon (women’s 1500m), Beatrice Chebet (women’s 5000m) and Lilian Odira (women’s 800m), will conspicuously be missing in action because of various reasons, Wanyonyi does not just highlight the inaugural showdown but also carries the hopes of a nation expecting glory in the championships that will end on Sunday.
Wanyonyi, who will compete in his 800m specialty, is entered alongside 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot and Under-20 record holder Phanuel Koech in the men’s 1500m, African bronze medallist Cornelius Kemboi and world silver medallist Jacob Krop in the men’s 5000m.
Former world javelin champion Julius Yego is the sole Kenyan flag bearer in his event.
Wanyonyi has been targeting a world record in the 800m this season but achieved that feat in the 1000m at the Monaco Diamond League in July.
If conditions are ideal for super-fast times in Budapest this weekend, Wanyonyi, a former world Under-20 champion, could once again attempt to smash the record set by legendary two-lapper David Rudisha at the 2012 London Olympics.
At the opening night of the Diamond League finals in Brussels, Wanyonyi produced a brilliant victory, establishing himself as the series’ most dominant star.
He became the only 800m great to secure four consecutive victories at the final.
His 1:41.80 feat in Brussels was just 0.04 off his season’s best, which he set in Zurich—the last meeting before the finals.
Wanyonyi had said before the Diamond League finals last weekend that his sights were firmly set on the upcoming Ultimate show.
“After Brussels, I will think about the Ultimate Championships,” Wanyonyi said.
Wanyonyi will be joining a number of record-breakers, among them Ja’Kobe Tharp, who lowered the world 110m hurdles record to 12.75 in June, Masai Russell, who achieved 12.09 in the women’s 100m hurdles, and Alison dos Santos, who clocked 45.80 in the men’s 400m hurdles in Zurich last month.
The Kenyan squad of six athletes will be facing their counterparts from 64 other federations in their campaign for podium spots and a share of the Sh1.2 billion prize pot.
Athletics stars, who include World, Olympic and Diamond League brilliant performers, will be looking to end the track and field season in style when they line up in their various specialties in Budapest.
The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships has been designed to take place the year after the biennial World Championships, making it possible for athletes to battle for honours every season.
In the absence of Odira, the reigning world champion, who was earlier expected to stamp her authority, strong women’s 800m stars such as world leader Audrey Werro of Switzerland, Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson of England and Femke Bol of the Netherlands, among other stars, will contest the title.
“The Ultimate Championship will bring together Olympic champions, world champions, Wanda Diamond League winners and the year’s best-performing athletes across 28 disciplines during three action-packed evenings of competition. A record prize pot of US$10 million is on offer, with individual champions earning US$150,000,” World Athletics said in a statement on Monday.
World and Olympic pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis is among the headline names entered. The Swedish star, who improved his own world record to 6.31m earlier this year, will face a field that includes Emmanouil Karalis, who has cleared 6.20m this season and arrives in Budapest as the Diamond League champion.
Cheruiyot and Koech will take on two-time Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Olympic champion Cole Hocker, Olympic silver medallist Josh Kerr and world champion Isaac Nader in their campaign for glory.
World silver medallist Dorcus Ewoi and national record holder Mercy Oketch will compete in the women’s 1500m and 400m respectively.
Three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon last month announced that a nagging injury she picked up in May had disrupted her plans for the season.
Kipyegon, a five-time world champion and record holder in her 1500m specialty, said the hamstring injury had taken longer than she expected to heal.
Odira pulled out of the penultimate leg of the Diamond League series in Zurich to recover from a busy season, while a star like Chebet is still on maternity leave.
Other stars expected to descend on Budapest, according to the entry list published by the global governing body, are Olympic champions Gabby Thomas (USA), Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic), Hodgkinson (England), Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine), Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) and Ethan Katzberg (Canada), as well as world champions Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Oblique Seville and Collen Kebinatshipi (Botswana).
Kenyan athletes entered for Ultimate Championships:
Emmanuel Wanyonyi - Men’s 800m
Timothy Cheruiyot - Men’s 1500m
Phanuel Koech - Men’s 1500m
Cornelius Kemboi - Men’s 5000m
Jacob Krop - Men’s 5000m
Julius Yego - Men’s Javelin
Dorcus Ewoi - Women’s 1500m
Mercy Oketch - Women’s 400m
