Aiming high: Koech wants to return home with a 400m hurdles medal as Kemwoi eyes faster time

Aaron Koech

Nicholas Bett went to the World Championships in Beijing, China, last year, as an underdog. But he shocked the world with the 400m hurdles global title, a feat previously achieved 43 years ago by Uganda’s John Akii-Bua in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

That left his older brother, Aaron Koech, a semi-finalist in the Beijing worlds, lurking in his shadow. Bett is a police officer based in Kisumu County.

One year later, Koech longs to return home with a gold medal and ensure that the family basks in world and Olympics 400m hurdles – a feat Ethiopia’s track assassins Tirunesh Dibaba and Genzebe Dibaba have achieved.

Koech wants to upset the form book after Bett failed to make it past the qualifying round.

“It is possible that I can also win gold like my brother did in Beijing last year, but our main aim is to try and go home with some medal,” Koech said after booking a slot in today’s final.

He admits that making it to the final remains the most difficult task and lining up in the final indicates that a medal is attainable.

Koech, an Anti-Stock Theft police officer based in Gilgil, lines up alongside African champion Boniface Mucheru, who said he never gave his all in the semis but was keen to appear on the podium.

“We will win this thing. I am asking you not to have any doubts as we are going to plan how we will run and just like in the world championships, we will go home with the title.

“I knocked many hurdles in the semis. I have learned from the mistakes and won’t repeat them in the final. Once I clear the hurdles, then expect a gold medal from me,” Mucheru said.

Meanwhile, world champion Asbel Kiprop is always an interesting character and one never knows which tactics he will unleash in the heats or semis of a 1,500m race

 

TODAY’S SEMIS

 But following his show in the heats on Tuesday morning, Kenyans should expect to see a more determined three-time world champion in today’s semis.

Kiprop competed in heat one, employing his behind-the-pack trademark pace before slowly shifting gears as he approached the bell to win in 3:38.97 ahead of Ryan Gregon and Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman.

It is interesting to see his tactics in the semi-finals; whether he has learned from past mistakes – in Osaka (2007), Berlin (2009) and London’s 2012 Olympics – in the finals on Saturday.

World silver medallist Elijah Manangoi, who has played a bridesmaid role to Kiprop, has performed well in the Diamond League series this season. He won in Rome and finished second in Monaco.

There is also Ronald Kwemoi, the Monaco Diamond League winner, who was the fastest of the Kenyans in the heats. He was second behind Jakub Holusa (3:38.31) of the Czech Republic in 3:38.33 after slowing down just a few metres to the finish line to let the Czech cross the line.

Coach Boniface Tiren said it was important that the three athletes qualified for the final so they could lay a winning strategy for the final.