Kenyan women keen to improve in London meet: Athletes focus Only Vivian and Kiyeng won gold at 2015 World Championships in Beijing

Margaret Nyairera and Eunice Sum chat at the finish line during the national athletics trials at Nyayo staium.PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO

Chepng’etich keen to win elusive 1,500m title after good show in Rio.

Kenyan women will be hoping to improve on the two gold medals won by Vivian Cheruiyot (10,000m) and Hyvin Kiyeng (3,000m) at the 15th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, in 2015.

They will head to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London with lofty dreams: to stay at the top of medal table and explore virgin grounds.

Kenya has never won women’s 1,500m gold medal since event inception in 1983 and the nation basks only in Hellen Obiri’s bronze in Moscow (2013) and Faith Chepng’etich’s silver in Beijing in 2015. This is despite good shows at the Olympic Games.

Bernard Ouma, the middle distance coach, said 1,500m teams’ response to training is satisfactory. “In my assessment, we have a good team. I hope we will able to win Kenya’s first 1,500m gold medal this time round. We must exploit such a race to maintain our top position overall,” Ouma said.

 

400m

Maximilla Imali is Kenya’s sole competitor in the one-lap race. She was in the 4x400m squad at the IAAF World Relays in Bahamas last April and will be keen to step up to 800m at Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia next March after promising outing in London. She boasts 51.8 seconds season best in 400m.

 

800m

Kenya has won two gold medals via Janeth Jepkosgei (2007) and Eunice Sum (2013) in the world championships history.

Olympic bronze medalist Margaret Nyairera had been tipped to deliver Kenya’s second gold medal at the Olympics — after Pamela Jelimo in 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China — at the Rio Olympics last year. But she could not stop the muscular women in South Africa’s Olympic champion Caster Semenya and silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi. Although Semenya and Niyonsaba have displayed great form this season, the three women will face off once again in London Worlds and Nyairera has some unfinished business against them.

Sum faced huge challenges after completing Form Four at Moi University Kesses Secondary School in 2008. Sum, a cousin of 2007 world 800m champion Alfred Kirwa Yego, has been consistent at the world stage having won the 2013 world title then settled for bronze in Beijing, China, in 2015.

She started training 2011 and had to wait for her Hollywood script until 2013 during the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow, Russia, at Luzhniki Stadium, where she beat home-girl and then world champion Maria Sanivova to win the gold medal. That saw Kenya finish fourth in the medal standings. She carries her impressive 1:57.78 season, set in Lausanne last month, to the start line in London.

The other athete in the line up is Emily Cherotich, silver Africa Championships in 800m in Durban. She graduated from 400m after missing out on team spots to Moscow Worlds and Glasgow Commonwealth Games. She was in Bahamas mixed relay team this year.

 

1,500m

This is the race decider and Kenyans hope that the national anthem will be played for the first time in the World Championships 1,500m history. Faith Chepng’etich’s silver in Beijing and Hellen Obiri’s bronze in Moscow stand out as Kenya’s only 1,500m medals in the worlds.

But Chepng’etich, the Olympic champion boasting a time of 3:57.51, has impeccable credentials and she is expected to stop Ethiopia’s world record holder Genzebe Dibaba in London.

The 22-year-old photogenic girl from Keringet in Nakuru County returns to the World Championships keen to improve on her silver in Beijing.

On the other hand, Winny Chebet basks in six silvers — won in World Youth and World Juniors and other championships – that earned her the ‘silver girl’ tag in athletics circles. She has a personal best time of 3:59.16 set in Rome Diamond League last month.

Judy Kiyeng, the younger sister of world 3,000m champion Hyvin Kiyeng, forms an array of siblings in Kenyan squad to London alongside world junior 800m champion Kipyegon Bett and Commonwealth Games 3,000m steeplechase champion Purity Cherotich. Judy has 4:04.4 best mark in 1,500m.

 

3,000m steeplechase

Kenya has two gold medals in women’s 3,000m steeplechase in Milcah Chemos (2013) and Hyvin Kiyeng (2015) since introduction of the race in 2005 in Helsinki, Finland.

Celliphine Chepteek Chespol, 18, basks in 8:58.78, the world’s second fastest time in history, set in Eugene, USA.

She is a Form Four student at Riruta Central Secondary School in Nairobi.

She is best remembered for running with one shoe mid-way to upstage Beatrice Chepkoech and set the brilliant 8:58.78 mark in Eugene Diamond League meeting.

She has a rich CV in the water barriers race: 2000m steeplechase champion at IAAF World Under-18 Championships in Cali, Colombia and gold at World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

She also won bronze in the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country earlier this year in Kampala, Uganda.

Beatrice Chepkoech will take her 9:00.70 best mark to the field even as Hyvin Kiyeng eyes a second bite at the cherry. She has 9:00.01 best mark set in Eugene in May.

Purity Cherotich Kirui, who has 9:20.07 season best, draws inspiration from her on-form brother Kipyegon Bett and needs to be at her best to counter the stiff challenge from her compatriots and former Kenyan Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet, the Olympic champion and world record holder.

 

5,000m

Olympic 500m silver medalist Hellen Obiri, who is in the form of her life this season, longs to become the second Kenyan to win world 5,000m gold medal after Vivian Cheruiyot in Berlin (2009) and Daegu (2011).

Obiri set a world leading time 14:18.37, a national record, at the IAAF Diamond League in Rome last month. She will anchor Margaret Chelimo and Africa 10,000m champion Sheila Chepkirui.

 

10,000m

Irene Chebet Cheptai, who has 31:56.4 time set at Nyayo Stadium, banks on her World Cross Country Championships triumph early this year in Kampala, Uganda as she joins forces with Agnes Jebet Tirop, the national trials winner and Africa 10,000m champion Alice Aprot.

They will be seeking to retain title Vivian Cheruiyot won in Beijing in 2015.

Marathon

Edna Kiplagat longs to become the first woman in the world to win the World Championships marathon gold medal three times and surpass Catherine Ndereba’s two wins (2003 and 2007) and silver in 2005.

Kiplagat will also be out to reclaim the title Ethiopia’s Mare Dibaba won in 2015. Kiplagat will team up with Helah Kiprop and champion Philomena Cheyech.

Kiplagat has won New York, London, Boston marathons and runners-up spots in Tokyo and Chicago marathons.