Komon finishes fourth in Puerto Rico

By Mutwiri Mutuota and IAAF

World record holder, Leonard Komon, finished fourth at Sunday’s World’s Best 10K, the IAAF Gold Label Road Race in Puerto Rico won by compatriot and 2009 event champion, Sammy Kitwara.

This is the event that saw Athletics Kenya (AK) drop Komon from the Punta Umbria World Cross team and bar women’s track world champions, Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai from taking part last week.

Kitwara (27:35) sped away from the challenge of Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel (27:45) in the last two kilometres for victory as fast finishing Lelisa Desisa (28:02) overtook Komon (28:05) for the last podium place.

World Cross champion, Joseph Ebuya (28:07) who did most of the front running initially came home for fifth. In the women’s event, Commonwealth Games 10000m champion, Grace Momanyi, who withdrew from the Africa World Cross team, was the best placed Kenyan in fourth (32:05) as Ethiopia’s defending champion, Sentayehu Ejigu (31:50) led her comrades to the podium sweep.

Joseph Ebuya (left) and Leonard Komon during the African Athletics Championships in Nairobi, last year. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD] . Keep Reading  Kenya leads global push to raise Sh322tr from climate taxesPremium  UNEA: Summit ends with promise to keep an eye on pollution, waste  Harnessing insurance as a climate resilience tool  We need more climate-informed health planning approaches in climate action plans  Insurance as a mechanism for building climate resilience

Komon, who set the world 10km and 15km records last year in Netherlands is expected in the country today where his management, Golazo Sport are due to organise a media briefing to respond to AK’s actions on Saturday.

Reward Cherono

Incidentally, the winner at Puerto Rico, Kitwara, was also dropped from the Kenyan team for 2009 World Championships when he competed at the Peachtree 10K road race in the US after topping the Kenyan men 10000m Trials.

At the same time, the Africa Cross Country squad stepped up preparations for Cape Town with only three days before they depart for South Africa.

World Cross junior champion, Mercy Cherono, who graduated to senior ranks this season and finished 13th at the national championships will replace Momanyi in the senior women 8km team.

"This is to reward her for consistency she has shown as a junior and to give her much needed experience in competing at senior level," Athletics Kenya (AK) treasurer, Joseph Kinyua, said.

Administration Police runner, Henry Chirchir, has taken the position vacated by Paul Tanui in the senior men’s 12km line-up. Tanui was called-up to replace Komon in the Punta Umbria team.

"Our preparations are going according to plan and we expect a good performance in Cape Town," the continental squad’s head coach, Julius Kirwa told FeverPitch Monday from the team’s base in Ngong.