5,000m preview: Kenyans keen to win back title last won by Limo in Helsinki

Kiplangat, Rutto and Menjo set for action

Mo Farah also expected to chase second title in London.

Seven of the eight world titles won between 1991, when Yobes Ondieki took gold in Tokyo, and 2005, when Benjamin Limo took the honours, went to Kenyan competitors, although Helsinki was the last time a Kenyan could call himself world 5000m champion.

In London, Cyrus Rutto, Japheth Kiprono Menjo, and Davis Kiplangat will be hoping to work together in bringing gold back to Kenya for the first time in more than a decade. They will be in action at 10.05pm in the 5,000m heats.

Though the three are fresh faces on the global stage, they have the responsibility of carrying the national flag and hope a repeat of the Rio Olympics does not happen when Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku and Isaiah Kiplagat Koech failed to progress to the final, with Ndiku finishing sixth in his heat while Koech, popularly known as 'Chairman’, finished a distance tenth to miss out on the final for the first time in Kenyans’ Olympics history.

Kiplangat and Rutto, the trial winners, have not been impressive in Diamond League races, but they will be fighting hard to book slots in the final scheduled for Saturday, the ninth day of the competition.

Britons’ Mo Farah heads to the lineup once again, having torn apart his opponent in 10,000m on his way to gold in the opening day of the championships.

Farah, 34, has won every outdoor title he has contested over 5000m, a run of victories that has seen him secure a reputation as one of the greatest endurance runners of all time.

And in each of the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, that has meant doubling up over the two longest track championship distances.

Ethiopia’s line up is formidable, featuring Muktar Edris, Yomif Kejelcha, Hagos Gebrhiwet, and Selemon Barega. Each has a strong case to suggest that they will be Farah’s closest challenger.

Gebrhiwet has the pedigree, securing his place in London as the 2016 Diamond Trophy winner and having won medals at both the 2013 and 2015 World Championships and the Rio Olympic Games.

Edris, the 2012 world U20 champion, ran the fastest time in the world this year in July, clocking 12:55.23 in Lausanne, while the 17-year-old Barega was placed second in that race.