Sky is the limit

Commonwealth and African champion, Julius Yego’s performance this season has inspired fans to imagine how far he can hurl the javelin as he added another 85cm to his national record on Thursday in IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome.

Another performance that also showed a spirited effort and fight to be the best was in the women 3,000m steeplechase as Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi beat new star on the bloc, Virginia Nyambura.

Yego, who has made it realistic for Kenyans to imagine winning a medal in the field events at the World Championships is possible, has continued to redefine his career ever since he stormed the global scene.

In Rome, Vitezslav Vesely, the world champion, gained some consistency as he strung together good throws in successive competitions.

Vesely can often throw long distances when it counts and he won his first competition outside his native Czech Republic for more than a year, when he unleashed a terrific second-round throw of 88.14m on Thursday. With the humongous throw, he had an advantage of more than five metres over the second competitor and, perhaps feeling contended that he had bagged four Diamond Race points, he decided to retire from the competition and conserve his energy.

Yego launched his spear to set a new Kenyan record of 87.71m in round four, adding 85cm to his own mark set a week ago in Ostrava. In the final round, Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott also unleashed a national record of 86.20m.

In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Hyvin Kiyeng took almost seven seconds off her personal best to win in 9:15.08 and come home ahead of her Kenyan compatriot Virginia Nyambura, who caused a sensation when she won in Doha after being the designated pacemaker.

sizzling performance

Meanwhile, 3,000m steeplechase Commonwealth Games Champion Purity Cherotich Kirui produced a sizzling performance as Kenya Police athletics Championships entered Day Two yesterday at Kasarani Stadium.

Kirui timed 9:49.2 to power home unchallenged in the 3,000m race, followed by Caroline Tuikong in 9:58.0. Veronica Ngasosa was third in 10:03.4 in the only track final of the day.

“I’m happy with my IAAF World Championship national trials preparation. I’m now I’m focusing on the world championship,” said Kirui, who emerged as a steeplechase specialist in 2010 after she won gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Championships.

David Kogei trounced a rich field that included former Marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang and Joseph Kitur to win in 5,000m semi-final heat.

Kogei clocked 13:51.3 to book his a place in the final, where he will compete against reigning commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medalist Josephat Bett, who won in his heat in 13:54.5.

Using the 5,000m as a launching pad ahead of the IAAF world Championship, Kipsang says he is getting ready for the marathon race in August, where he will compete against record holder Dennis Kimetto, Mark Korir, Felix Kipchichir Kiprotich, Lucas Kimeli Rotich and Luka Lokobe.

“I’m simply using 5000m to test my speed as part of my preparation for the World Championship. I am pretty happy for being selected to represent my country.

I have always looked forward to this day. In that team, we have strong runners and we will work together to make sure we wrestle the tittle from Kiprotich of Uganda.” said Kipsang.