Rudisha leads Kenya stars to Lausanne Diamond League

Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha will lead a galaxy of Kenyan stars today to Lausanne, Switzerland, for the Diamond League meeting on Thursday.

It will be Rudisha’s fourth race in the two-lap distance this year after running in Melboune, Sydney, and New York. Time will be crucial for the Commonwealth Games silver medallist as he seeks to send a clear message to his opponents that his worst nightmare from injuries is over.

“I will be running in Laussane,” he said. “I need one race to gauge my fitness and then I will return home to train and focus on the World Championships,” he said.

Rudisha is returning from injury, which he picked in Ostrava in May to win in New York in a fast time of 1:43.58, which was just 0.02 seconds off the world lead time of Mohammad Aman of Ethiopia. Now he has his chance to go top and send a message to his rivals ahead of the Beijing World Championships, that he will be gunning for his title in August.

Lausanne will also provide the first serious test for Rudisha as he will come up against World Champion Mohammad Aman from Ethiopia and Commonwealth Games winner Nigel Amos of Botswana.

Aman holds the world’s lead at 1:43.56, which Rudisha failed to beat in New York by 0.02 seconds. However, Like Rudisha, the Olympic 800m silver medallist Nijel Amos of Botswana will be returning from injury too. He has since run 1:43.80 this season.

There will also be European champion Marcin Lewandowski from Poland, Ferguson Rotich, Job Kinyor and Alfred Kipketer.

NINTH STOP

Laussanne will be the ninth stop in the 14-tier IAAF Diamond League series. There will be three more races in Monaco, London and Stockholm before the athletes turn their focus to the World Championships in Beijing from August 22. Two more Diamond League meetings will be run in Brussels and Zurich in September.

Meanwhile, Joshua Olekeri will lead the Athletics Kenya (AK) Nairobi Branch team of over 30 athletes to this weekend’s national championships at Safaricom Stadium in Kasarani. Olekeri from Langata won the 5,000m race during the AK Nairobi branch meeting at the Nairobi West Kenya Prisons grounds over the weekend. He clocked 14:15.4 to beat Mesharck Letim (14:15.4) in a close contest.

David Karuru (14:40.4) from Dagoretti had to settle for third place ahead of Paul Fundi of Westlands (14:41.1) and Paul Kitonga of Embakasi (14:52.4).

In the 10,000m, Boniface Kirui had the final three laps running solo and won in 28:56.6 ahead of Patrick Kimani (29:12.4)  while Alfa Mariga was third in 29:14.2. Daniel Kilonzo (29:18.8), Sylvester Kilonzo (30:08.0) and Francis Njenga (30:10.0) followed in that order.

In the women’s races, Mercy Njoki won the 5,000m in a time of 16:52.4 ahead of Jeddah Wanjiru (17:34.2) and Purity Wambui (20:15.5).

In the 800m, Sheila Chesang was the winner after clocking 2:12.3 to beat her closest rival Josephine Nyakuri (2:13.6) and Wely Chebt (2:21.7).

In the 10,000m race, Alice Mogire won in 33:10.0 ahead of Emily Sanoe (33:18.0) and Pauline Eskon (33:22.0).