What record-breaking moments in recent days mean for Kenyan athletics

Geoffrey Kamworor lead during the national Police Service Cross Country championship at Ngong Race course on Friday, January 6, 2023. [Jonah Onyango, Standard] The warning shots have been fired at the indoor arenas and the roads. The world records have fallen spectacularly. The jaw-dropping performances are causing waves in the world of athletics. Six world records have fallen in the last 11 days as athletics charges unleash talking points, and leave their rivals going back to the drawing board. From Grant Fisher's (USA) 3000m indoor world record to Jacob Kiplimo's (Uganda) half marathon historic mark and Jacob Ingebrigsten's (Norway) Indoor Mile and 1500m and to Toshikazu Yamanishi's (Japan) 20km Race Walk stun, athletes have, since February 8, oozed class and fired their warning shots in a World Championships year. Big names in Kenyan athletics watched these historic shows and took some notes. But one thing has stood out. Kenya, an athletics powerhouse is facing even bigger opposition this season as their counterparts across globe get off to flying starts. Look at the blistering pace delivered by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, a tempo propelling him to the history books. The former world half marathon champion smashed the men's half marathon record in Barcelona and became the first man to run a sub-57 minutes in the 21km distance. Kiplimo did it in style. Flew from the start to the finish and left the super-fast field gasping for breath. After the jaw-dropping run in Barcelona, Kiplimo will be getting ready for the London Marathon in April where he will take on the greatest marathon shots among them Eliud Kipchoge, defending champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao, Valencia Half Marathon and Tokyo Marathon runner-up Timothy Kiplagat among others. He is raring to further prove his mettle at the London Marathon on April 27. "It was a perfect race.... Ideal temperature, no wind, fantastic circuit - everything went better than expected. The pacemaker set the agreed 2:45 pace but I found myself full of energy and decided to inject a brisker rhythm from the third kilometre, but I never imagined performing under the 57-minute barrier, that's astonishing," said Kiplimo on Sunday. On his next move, Kiplimo who was followed by former half marathon record holder Geoffrey Kamworor said: "I won't compete any more until my marathon debut in London on April 27." The Ugandan displayed unmatched sprinting over the closing stages of the Barcelona Half Marathon and crossed the 20km point at 53:42 to finish in a blazing 56:42. Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda crosses the finish line to win the Mens United Airlines NYC Half Marathon on March 19, 2023 in New York City. [Rich Schultz/Getty Images/AFP] Moses Tanui, the first man to run the half marathon in under one hour in 1993 says the world could soon see a sub-two-hour in the marathon if the tempo displayed by Kiplimo on Sunday would be repeated in 42km. Tanui says shoe technology could be powering road stars to world records. "So long as you are in good shape, the shoe will always give you an added advantage. Technology is advancing and when blended with good training, faster times are recorded," says Tanui. Before Sunday, February 16, when Kiplimo broke the half marathon record, global stars had taken down records in indoor events, this same month. USA's Fisher and his countryman Yared Nuguse kicked off the record-smashing moments with the 3000m and Mile respectively at the Millrose Games, a Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in New York. With a high-quality field assembled for the indoor showpiece, the focus was on victory but the Americans powered to world records. Fisher, a double Olympic bronze medallist, kicked at the final bend to overpower Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker and won the contest in 7:22.91, improving on Lamecha Girma's world indoor record of 7:23.81. Hocker finished second in 7:23.14, also inside the previous world record. Daniel Komen had held both the indoor and outdoor 3000m records for over two decades since the late 1990s. "A lot of people would say he (Fisher) has the best kick in the world, so to beat him like that, I'm really happy with it. That really couldn't have turned out any better," Fisher said. Less than a week after he shattered the world indoor 3000m best mark in New York, Fisher added another world indoor record to his tally. He broke the indoor 5000m world record at the BU David Hemery Valentine International in Boston on Friday 14. To demonstrate that he was in his best form this season, Fisher covered the final 400m in 59.36 seconds, after charging through the line in 12:44.09, a five-second improvement on the previous world indoor record of 12:49.60 set by Kenenisa Bekele in 2004. And then came the man who has dislodged Kenyan charges from the 1500m stranglehold. On Thursday, February 13, two-time Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway obliterated the indoor Mile world record which had been set by USA's Yared Nuguse five days before then. At the Lievin race in France, Ingebrigsten was paced through the first five laps, and from then he was alone at the front for the remainder of the race as he sustained a record-breaking pace. Ingebrigtsen crossed 1500m in 3:29.63, taking almost a second off the world indoor record of 3:30.60, which he had set on the same track in 2022. "It feels amazing. I'm a very happy man. You have to be focused for the whole race. It's tough, but it's worth it," said Ingebrigsten after his first ever indoor mile race. According to Moses Kiptanui, the first man to run sub-eight minutes in the 3,000m steeplechase, the record-breaking spree is a warning to Kenyan coaches and the Kenyan federation, to prepare for strong opposition during the World Championships in September and other races ahead of the global showpiece. Kiptanui says mistakes that have cost Kenyan squads medals at international championships must be corrected if the country is serious about reclaiming glory in races it had dominated for years. "We have so many races in Kenya but we have to be more tactical. We can't hold the national cross country in a high altitude and high temperatures in Eldoret and expect the athletes to perform well after the punishing conditions. Such events are important but should be held in conditions that can't punish the athletes. "We need well trained coaches to guide our athletes because the world has shown that it can produce faster athletes. We have about six months to the World Championships and we should start preparing a formidable team from now," says the former world record holder. Mathew Birir, the 1992 Barcelona Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion says the world records attack was an indicator that athletes across the globe were well prepared for the season. "The world-record breakers with good coaches will sustain the momentum to the World Championships through the Diamond Leagues. We have not been doing so well in the men's 5,000m and 10,000m and this means that we are going to face a big opposition. Athletes should now build a strong mental and physical power as a strategy to counter the powerful paces," Birir told Standard Sports. In Kobe, Japan, homeboy Toshikazu Yamanishi, a two-time world champion, timed a stunning 1:16:10 to shatter the men's world 20km race walk record at the Japanese 20km Race Walking Championships. The Sunday race was a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze event. He improved the previous world record of 1:16:36 set by his compatriot Yusuke Suzuki in Nomi in 2015 by 26 seconds. Yamanishi was spotted sharing a joke with lapped race walkers over the final kilometre as he walked to the finish in style. "I'm glad 'time' came along with my efforts. The guys made a good rhythm in the first half of the race and I figured I'd make a move in the latter part of the race. My movement didn't feel right in the beginning, it wasn't easy, but I was able to make the adjustments to find the right rhythm. When I was planning my race, whatever happened in the race I was aiming for the world record," the Japanese star told a live broadcast.

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