by Larry Eder
Ezekiel Kemboi, photo by PhotoRun.net
The steeplechase, 5000 meters and 1,500 meters will be HUGE at Meeting AREVA on Saturday, 4 July. Justin Lagat, of Kenyanathlete.com, wrote this piece for us.
The steeplechase will be of particular interest to this writer, as Evan Jager is racing here. After his 3:32.97, the fastest 1,500m of year, Jager is ready to roll.
If the conditions are good, and they can possibly be too hot and humid, Jager might wake up Mr. Kemboi tomorrow.
Ezekiel Kemboi to meet again with Jairus Birech at the Paris Diamond League:
Ezekiel Kemboi, the only athlete to have beaten Jairus Birech at this year’s IAAF Diamond League season so far, has dominated the men’s 3000m steeplechase event for many years and has earned himself a name; the king of the 3000m steeplechase. However, most of his notable achievements happened when Jairus Birech, the new sensation now in the event had not yet came to the limelight. Now, Kemboi apparently faces an imminent dethroning by Jairus as the world championships in Beijing approach.
The two already have wild cards to run the steeplechase in Beijing; Kemboi being the defending world champion while Birech, who is so far leading with 10 points this year, was last year’s Diamond league winner.
If it was a football match between the two, they would now be at a score of 1 – 1, Kemboi having won over Jairus in Eugene Diamond League and Jairus having scored an equalizer at the Oslo Diamond League when he won the race while Kemboi had faded in the last laps finishing in a distant 10th.
In a group of star athletes that included Kemboi, Birech, Conseslus Kipruto and Asbel Kiprop, during an athletics weekend meeting in Eldoret last month, Kemboi had jokingly told the two younger steeplechase runners that he was still going to keep winning big titles until 2022. He had then asked Conseslus in particular how old he was when he was winning an Olympic gold medal in 2004 and everyone in the circle had exploded in laughter.
Well, neither Birech nor Kipruto fought him back with words, but at the Areva meeting this weekend, and in the other upcoming meetings, the new generation of Kenyan steeplechase runners will definitely be seeking to oust the king. The king also knows that it is perhaps a matter of time before others begin to take his place at the podium and he will be doing his best to still remain at the top as long as it is still possible for him.
Another long-distance event that promises to be exciting at the Areva meeting will be the women’s 5000m. Almaz Ayana who has a world leading time of 14:14.32 will be featuring. There is a possibility that she will run another very fast time, given that she ran the world leading time she ran in Shanghai was barely 3 seconds out of the world record, and she was not running after the record. That is a statement in itself, and another reason not to miss this race; anything will happen.
Kenya’s Faith Chepng’etich, who holds the Kenyan record in the women 1500m, will be in this race too and is one athlete who has the potential to cause an upset, if not use the opportunity to break the Kenyan women 5000m record of 14:20.87 currently being held by Vivian Cheruiyot.
In the men’s 1500m, Silas Kiplagat, who won the Diamond League trophy last season, will be seeking to extend his lead in points also for this year. He will face tough competition from Ayanleh Souleiman, James Magut and Ronald Kwemoi.
Eunice Sum of Kenya has so far ran two Diamond League races this year and has remained undefeated, she now leads the women 800m race with 8 points and it is expected that she is going to continue her winning streak at the Paris Diamond League race.
