World cross champ eyes third victory: Kamworor headlines busy 2019 calendar
Athletics
By
Dennis Okeyo
| Jan 09, 2019
Three-time World Half Marathon Champion Geoffrey Kamworor will be seeking his third victory in Aarhus World Championships.
IAAF World cross country championships will roll out busy athletics season as Kenya bids to retain the title in the biennial showpiece Aarhus, Denmark on March 30.
Geoffrey kamworor, christened ‘a man of all surfaces’, having excelled on the track, cross country road and road races, will be seeking a third triumph in senior men’s race after chalking victories in 2015 and 2017.
Only John Ngugi, Paul Tergat and Kenenisa Bekele have won three consecutive titles in the senior men’s race at the world cross and Kamworor has the opportunity to join that exclusive group.
First, though, he will have to make it through the notoriously competitive Kenyan Trials.
And then there’s the small matter of beating the rest of the world, such as Ugandan duo Jacob Kiplimo and Joshua Cheptegei.
Kenya, will once be again the team to beat in Aarhus though. Two years ago in Kampala, the East African nation made history by filling the top six places in the senior women’s race.
Irene Cheptai led 1- 6 sweep in women’s senior race with Alice Aprot clinching silver while Lilian Kasait getting bronze.
Others were Hyvin Kiyeng at fouth place, Faith Chepngetich fifth and Agnes Tirop, who was sixth.
Ethiopia and Uganda will once again provide stiff opposition in all five races, while the likes of Bahrain, Eritrea, Turkey and the USA can also contend for medals.
One of the most exciting elements of the 2017 World Cross Country Championships was the introduction of the mixed relay.
Comprising four legs of roughly two kilometres, teams are free to choose any running order they feel will work best.
A Kenyan quartet anchored by steeplechase world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech won in Kampala, but having learned from that experience two years ago, other teams can be expected to put forward stronger teams in Aarhus with more competitive running orders.
The year will also see the IAAF World Relays in Yokohama, Japan on May 11-12. The competition’s first three editions of the IAAF World Relays, in 2014, 2015 and 2017, were held in the Bahamian capital, Nassau.
IAAF World Championships will head to Doha, the first city in the Middle East to host athletics’ premier showcase event.
The 10-day competition kicks off at Doha’s state-of-the-art Khalifa Stadium on September 27 to October 6. The opening day will be capped by the women’s marathon which will gets underway at midnight.
Other competitions include World Indoors Tour and Diamond League circuit.
The Indoor championships are composed of six indoor meetings, starting in Boston, USA on January 26.
The following five meetings will be hosted in the European indoor halls with the last competition on February 20 in Dusseldorf.