Kipsang, Kipkorir tackle Ingebrigtsen in Silesia meet

From Left; Abel Kipsang, Timothy Cheruiyot and Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot celebrates winning the 1500M men final race during the Trials for World Athletics Championship held at Nyayo National stadium in Nairobi on July 08, 2023.[Stafford Ondego, Standard]

On Sunday, the men’s 1500m is likely to be the centre of attraction as the eighth leg of the Diamond League series gets underway in Silesia, Poland,.

The all-star line-up signals a blazing battle for honours and sending of warning shots ahead of the Budapest World Championships planned for August 19 to 27.

World Indoor 1,500m bronze medallist Abel Kipsang, reigning Under-20 champion Reynold Kipkorir and Vincent Keter, the 2021 World Under-20 1,500m champion, are the three Kenyan men looking to dislodge Olympic champion in the distance, Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen from dominance.

Both Kipsang and Kipkorir were selected to represent Kenya at the World Championships after finishing second and third respectively at the country’s national trials last weekend.

Ingebrigtsen, who recently set a European 1,500m record in Oslo is set to race in Silesia in what is likely to be his last Diamond League race before the World Championships.

Kipkorir, 18, is among youngsters keen to make a name at the Budapest show next month.

Other contenders in the men’s 1,500m race are Great Britain’s European bronze medallist Elliot Giles and George Mills – a former European Under-18 champion and Australian Cameron Myers among others.

“On Sunday (tomorrow), Poland's prime athletics arena will play host to Olympic champions, world medallists and no fewer than five world record holders. The latter group has just been joined by the famed triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, a late addition to the Memorial's field,” Wanda Diamond League reported ahead of tomorrow’s event.

The Silesia Diamond League menu also includes two women's middle-distance races.

In the 800m, world leader this season Mary Moraa is eyeing another top slot as she looks into treating fans to another signature dance tomorrow evening.

Moraa recently impressed fans in Lausanne with her stellar performance on June 30, before winning the national trials for the World Championships last week.

Polish Sofia Ennaoui will be making her season debut in the women’s 800m race.

Camille Laus of Belgium and Natoya Goule-Toppin of Jamaica are among athletes seeking to shine in tomorrow’s Diamond League.

Former World Under-18 Silver medallist Lydia Jeruto will be the lone Kenyan in the women’s 1,500m.

Jeruto will be dueling Ethiopian guns such as Diribe Welteji and Birke Haylom. The latter, an Under-18 athlete, set a new world Under-20 record for the mile during the last Diamond League meeting in Oslo.

“This year, the fans are bound to leave the Silesian Stadium weary and with excitement. By all accounts, it is going to be a historic edition of the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial,” sports director of the Polish Diamond League circuit Piotr Małachowski predicted.

The men’s 3,000m steeplechase field is stellar, with top Kenyan guns aiming for glory.

Former World Under-20 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist Leornard Bett, Olympic bronze medallist Benjamin Kigen and Commonwealth Games winner Abraham Kibiwott as well as former World Under-20 champion Amos Serem will be in the line up.

Former 3,000m World Youth champion Lilian Kasait who secured a 2023 Budapest ticket, and will be representing the country in 5,000m will be eying glory in the 3,000m flat.

The circuit shifts to Monaco next week, with big shots such as 1,500m and 5,000m record breaker Faith Kipyegon lining up in the Mile race.