Asbel Kiprop retains title as Nixon Chepseba, Kiplagat flop at the IAAf

Asbel Kiprop at the IAAF World Championships PHOTO COURTESY

BY JONATHAN KOMEN

MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Asbel Kiprop ensured all Kenya’s defending champions retained their titles as the IAAF World Athletics Championships ended at Luzhniki Stadium here last evening.

 Asbel, who posted 3:27.72, the world’s fourth fastest run of all time in Monaco last month, seized the chance to right the wrong caused by the Olympic debacle between himself, and team-mates Nixon Chepseba and Silas Kiplagat.

The lanky Kiprop attended to unfinished business by delivering commanding performances in the heats and semi-finals of one of the world’s most prestigious track races that was contested by a cosmopolitan mix of nations chasing the medals.

Asbel, who won Beijing Olympics gold, said he was confident of retaining his title after running so well in Monaco.

“I am in top form this season and I decided to seek redemption, first for the London Olympics failure despite bringing a season’s best time to the line up. I expected a faster race,” said Kiprop, who will complete at the Diamond League series meets in Stockholm, Zurich and Brussels.

He now stands as the only Kenyan 1,500m gold medalist at the World Championships, but is among great men on the Olympic medal table.

“The world championships was simply a redemption moment for the London Olympics. But I am sad that Kenya did not manage a podium sweep in the 1,500m,” he said,

Asbel, however, has lofty dreams for the 2014 season. “I am seriously preparing to attempt the world record next year at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco. I want to run a sub 3:26 and I hope I will make it, only praying to God to remain without injuries.”

Asbel, who comes from Kaptinga Village in Uasin Gishu County, said he held the pack back deliberately so Nixon Chepseba could pace since he has a strong kick. “But the guys were pushing me so hard. We had planned a clean sweep,” he said.

Noah Ng’eny, the Sydney Olympics champion, said Kiprop is capable of breaking the world record. “He is a strong and confident. He is simply superb and he will break the world record any time. I am sure of it,” said Ng’eny.

Kiprop trailed Chepseba from the second lap as he controlled the chasing pack, but Silas Kiplagat got boxed into the inner lane. He narrowed the 10-metres between him and Chepseba as he approached the bell with a strong kick before taking the lead in the final stretch, winning in 3:36.28.

USA’s Matthew Centrowitz (3:36.78), whom Kiprop had warned could spoil the podium sweep, made good the threat.  He took silver as South Africa’s Johan Cronje (3:36.83) bagged bronze.

Asbel, whose father David Kebenei finished fourth in the 1,500m at the All Africa Games in 1987, pays glowing tribute to Centrowitz.

“Centrowitz was raised in an athletics family in USA. His father, Mark Centrowitz Senior, was a good 1,500m runner, and I knew he would do that,” said Asbel.