This is Nike Talks World Indoors 2018: Week 4, Day 4. Here is our African athlete for the week (we write about US, British, European, African, Asian, then, on weekends, history of world indoors)! We are writing about the Nike athletes who are planning on competing in Birmingham, March 1-4, 2018. For Thursday, January 25, 2018, we are writing about Bethwell Birgen, who will be making his fourth World Indoor Championships . For more on the World Indoors 2018, please go to www.wicbirmingham2018.com. We thank Nike for sponsoring this three month long program!
Kenya could have three athletes in a few events in Birmingham, and one of them could be Bethwell Birgen! Bethwell got in due to his wild card recieved on winning the 2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour in 2017.
Bethwell Birgen, Nick Willis, 2016 NB Indoor GP, photo by PhotoRun.net
Bethwell has outdoor bests of 3:30.77 for 1,500 meters and 3:50.42 for the mile. Indoors, Bethwell has some dangerous PBs from 3:34.62 at 1,500 meters and 3:55.41. Bethwell is taking a short indoor tour to prepare himself for the World Indoor Championships.
He also will be racing indoors at Karlsruhe and Dusseldorf on February 3 and February 6 to prepare him for the World Indoors. Bethwell will then come back and race at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships for the Kenyan Police team after his Dusseldorf race.
Bethwell told Justin Lagat, our Kenyan Athlete correspondent, that he will put some rest in after his races so that he is better prepared to race in Birmingham.
Below is a tweet on Bethwell from his 2017 win at Torun, Poland.
Congratulations to #Kenya's Bethwell Birgen on winning the men's 1500m at the #IAAF #WorldIndoorTour #Torun #Poland: https://t.co/8mDGGEMkCi pic.twitter.com/ALFGeCSrFK
-- Balozi (@Amb_Dr_Sang) February 11, 2017
How will Bethwell fare this year? His experience adds to his possibilities, and this may just be his day. Birmingham could be the place that this fine athlete, who has run in three indoor World Champs (Instanbul 2012, Sopot 2014, and Portland 2016) and also one World Outdoor Championships (Moscow 2013).
Bethwell Birgen, photo by PhotoRun.net
Will the fourth time at a World Indoors be the time where Bethwell Birgen puts it all together and takes a medal home for Kenya?
Well, as I have writing for the past month, we will have to wait and see!
Five weeks to go!
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