World marathon record holder Kimetto, Yego battle for top Soya awards

Kenya's Julius Yego competes during the men's javelin throw qualifications at the 2013 IAAF World Championships at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on August 15, 2013. AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNIS

World marathon record holder Dennis Kimetto and Commonwealth Games javelin champion are among those battling it out for the outstanding performance during this week’s Soya awards.

World Half marathon record holder Florence Kiplagat is also in the running for the award and so is Norway-based Kenyan goalkeeper Arnold Origi.

Kimetto broke the world record at the Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:02:57hrs to become the first man to run a marathon in under 2:03 minutes.

Kimetto has a rich athletics background, having won the 2013 Tokyo Marathon in a new course record time of 2 hours, six minutes and 50seconds. He also won the Chicago Marathon in a course record time of 2:03:45 hrs.

Yego won both the Commonwealth Games crown in Glasgow, United Kingdom after posting 83.87m and went on to bag the African Championships in Marrakech, Morocco after covering 84.72m.

Yego holds the national 85.40m which he posted last year in Moscow, Russia during the World Championships where he finished fourth. At the 2012 London Olympic Games, Yego placed 12th with a throw of 77.15m.

Kiplagat broke the half marathon world record by a significant margin at the Barcelona Half Marathon in February 2014, running 1:05:12 hours to beat Mary Keitany’s old mark by 38 seconds. She also took the world record for the 20km distance as well with a time of 1:01:56 hours.

Kiplagat finished in second place at the 2014 London Marathon in a time of 2:20:24, being narrowly defeated by her (unrelated) compatriot Edna Kiplagat.

Being a Jack of all trades, she finished second in the 10,000m during the Commonwealth Games, losing the gold medal position in the last five metres.

Origi kept 11 clean sheets for his club during the 2013-2014 season, and was among the nominees for the Norwegian golden glove. Lillestroem’s number one was also voted as the supporters’ player of the year.

The Safaricom Soya Awards will be held on Friday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.