Stars set for epic clash
Athletics
By
Denis Okeyo
| Jul 20, 2018
Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto and world 1,500m champion Elijah Manangoi will lead Kenyans at the 10th stop of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco, France, tonight.
Kipruto faces a tough battle inside Louis II Stadium in an attempt to stop Benjamin Kigen, who has beaten him twice this season –in Eugene and Rabat meetings.
Kigen set a world leading time of 8:06.19 in Rabat while Kipruto won in Rome, a non-Diamond League race, before fading to 12th in Rabat.
America’s Olympic silver medalist Evan Jager and Olympic bronze medalist Mahiedine Mekhissi of France are in contention.
Manangoi may have beaten his training partner Timothy Cheruiyot to the world 1500m title last year but this season it has been the latter athlete who is pre-eminent.
Cheruiyot remains unbeaten over his strongest distance this season, and has twice beaten Manangoi, at the Eugene and Rome IAAF Diamond League meetings.
The two meet again in Monaco in a stellar field that also includes Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz of the United States and Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti. The two target to dip under 3:28, which will see them lower their personal bests.
Celliphine Chespol, who is fresh from defending her world under-20 3,000m steeplechase title last week, leads a star-studded Kenyan line up.
Boasting the world second best time of 8:58.76, Chespol will not bask in her laurels. She faces stiff challenge from Commonwealth Games 1,500m silver medalist Beatrice Chepkoech , who beat her in Paris to set 8:59.36 –the fastest time this season.
Hyvin Kiyeng, the 2015 world champion and Olympic silver medalist, Africa silver medalist Norah Jeruto are also itching for glory.
But they need to be at their best to counter America’s world champion Emma Coburn and silver medalist Courtney Frerichs.
Chespol said: “Diamond league is different from championships. Here we have pacemakers. So, I am heading to Monaco expecting a fast race.”
Olympic 800m bronze medalist Margaret Nyairera faces a familiar field in South Africa’s world and Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya, who stepped up to 1,500m at the Commonwealth Games.
Burundi’s world and Olympic silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba, who won in the South African’s absence in Lausanne in July and World bronze medalist Ajee Wilson spice up the line up.
The women’s 400m will see the first IAAF Diamond League meeting of Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who won in Eugene in a world-leading 49.52, and the 20-year-old Bahrain runner Salwa Eid Naser, who has won the past four IAAF Diamond League meetings in Oslo, Stockholm and Paris –where she set an Asian record of 49.55.