Kenya longs to kill two birds with one stone at Oregon World Championships

Kenya's Stanley Waithaka and Edward Zakayo celebrate silver and Bronze in boy's 3000m finals during the IAAF World U18 Championships at Kasarani Stadium on Sunday 16/07/17.Photo/Elvis Ogina (Nairobi)

Kenyan men’s team are keen to make history by ending gold droughts in 5,000m and 10,000m at the 18th World Athletics Championships that start at Hayward Field inside University of Oregon in Eugene, USA, on Friday.

It remains a riddle as to when men will reclaim the 10,000m title that Charles Kimathi won in Edmonton, Canada, in 2001.

Commonwealth Games 10,000m bronze medalist Rodgers Kwemoi, half marathon specialist Daniel Mateiko and world Under-20 10,000m silver medalist Stanley Waithaka shoulder Kenyan hopes to recapture men’s 10,000m title.

Kenya has three gold medals in Paul Kipkoech (1987), Moses Tanui (1991) and Charles Kamathi (2001) while Ethiopia lead with nine medals in Haile Gebreselassie (1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999), Kenenisa Bekele (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009) and Ibrahim Jeilan in 2011. Britain boasts three titles from Mo Farah’s wins in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Kamathi, an Inspector of Police and the last Kenyan to win in 10,000m at the World Championships, said time was right for Kenyans to rise to the occasion and end the 22-year old drought in 10,000m at the worlds.

Hellen Obiri celebrate after winning 10, 000m Women race during trials World Championships and Commonwealth Games at the Moi International Sports Center, Kasarani. June 24, 2022. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

“We have what it takes to win the title. Our athletes have had improved time trends, which I cannot rule out their possibility of victory in major events. They are good in the laps except for the final lap where they do 55 seconds when the Ethiopians are doing 53 or 52 seconds,” he said.

Kamathi, who stands out as the only athlete to have beaten Ethiopia’s multiple world record holder Haile Gebresellassie in the 25-lap race, said the Ethiopians and by extension, Briton’s Mo Farah and Moses Kipsiro of Uganda –studied the tactic and keep on beating Kenyans in the final 400m.

“We are good in the 24 laps and only need to sharpen our finishing power. Our coaches should be working on this now, we will be able to win the gold medal in Oregon. Look at an athlete like Paul Tanui (the world silver medalist), he has strong lapping strategy.

“In 2001, my manager then Dr Gabrielle Rosa tipped me on this and I took it seriously and finally paid when I beat Haile in the final stretch. I also had an advantage since Haile undermined all the Kenyans since Paul Tergat was not in the lineup. And I surprised him,” he said.

In Edmonton, coach Mike Kosgei said, he studied how Haile beat Tergat by the thickness of the best at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“I decided that we should not allow Ethiopians to gauge us but we must outsmart them. I had John Korir and Paul Kosgei in the team.

Kenya’s Rodgers Kwemoi (bronze) poses with his medal a day after the atheltics men’s 10000m final during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games at the Carrara Stadium on the Gold Coast on April 14, 2018. AFP PHOTO

“The Ethiopians trained in a warm track near to the main stadium. I went there and peeped through the fence. I realised they were doing a lot of speed work. So, I psyched up my team; told them to do 13 minutes and 25 seconds in the first 5000m.

“Korir started to do the pacing then Kosgei took it up from there as Kamathi kept close tabs from four metres. I told Kosgei to sprint from 5000m. Kamathi rallied from behind to upstage the Ethiopians,” he said.

The Kenyan 10,000m training regimen, Kamathi said, is good but there is need to improve on speed work.

And Kipsiro, the 2014 Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion, concurs with him. “Mo Farah told me Kenyans have a poor 100m finishing kick and I just sharpened mine in London before the Commonwealth Games competition. But I believe Kenyans have the endurance and that’s why Ethiopians beat them in the last lap,” Kipsiro said in a past interview.

Kamathi, however, wants to see the young Kenyans re-enact his brilliant shows.

“Dynamics of the sport has changed. During our time, we used to run 27 minutes and nowadays they are running 26 minutes,” he said.

Kosgei, who guided Kamathi to gold in Edmonton, concurs with him.

“Our athletes are strong enough to win the medals. We only need to combine our talent with skillful tactics and conquer them. The first step should start from selections, where we should have a good combination that can agree and plan for victory,” Kosgei said.

The women 10,000m team will be led by world 5,000m champion Hellen Obiri, who is also expected to double up in the shorter race.