Justin sent us this piece on Timothy Cheruiyot, and the men’s 1500m in Monaco, plus most distance events in Monaco.
Timothy Cheruiyot, photo: You Tube
It has been a long while since the world’s best track and field athletes met to compete and the Monaco diamond league is happening under unique circumstances. No one knows the current form of each and every athlete entered in the different disciplines and we might be up for some great surprises.
Athletes are progressively coming in Monaco and starting to train for the big day! #HerculisEBS #MonacoDL #DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/C1lQhOztTa
— Herculis (@MeetingHerculis) August 10, 2020
One of the much-anticipated races for the distance events in the Wanda Monaco Diamond League this Friday will be the men’s 1500m race. The world’s best-ranked 1500m runner and reigning world champion, Timothy Cheruiyot will be there to prove that he is still the best after being beaten by the Ingebrigtsen brothers, Jakob, Henrik and Filip in a 2000m virtual run in June. The brothers had been running in ideal weather in Oslo while Cheruiyot struggled to keep up with them on a rainy day at a higher altitude in Nairobi.
End of 11km fartlek in Nairobi National Park. This is always a tough session! #endurance #speedwork #training #altitude pic.twitter.com/LPiM9SkPSG
— Timothy Cheruiyot (@tim_cheruiyot) July 28, 2020
This time around, Timothy will be facing Jakob and Filip in a loaded 1500m field that includes Yomif Kejelcha, Vincent Kibet, and Marcin Lewandowski, among others.
Henrik will be running in the 5000m event, which will also be another exciting race to watch. Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei who has a personal best time of 12:57:41 will be going for a fast time. Monaco has been the ideal place for setting new world records and perhaps we could get to see an amazing time being run by Cheptegei here.
Had it not been for the withdrawal of Conseslus Kipruto in the men’s 3000m steeplechase race, we would have gotten to watch a rematch of the 2019 world championships medalists, especially between Kipruto and Lamecha Girma after their photo-finish at the championships. The bronze medalist from last year, Sofiane El Bakkali will be there to provide a tough race for Girma.
We could see a repeat of the exciting celebrations that happened in the final of the women 800m race during the 2019 world championships. The two Ugandan girls who are well remembered for their dancing moves after one of them, Halima Nakaayi won gold in the event will both be featuring in the women 1000m race. Laura Muir and Faith Kipyegon will also be featuring.
Sifan Hassan, 13 August 2020, Monaco DL presser, photo by Etienne Fiacre
With Hellen Obiri, Sifan Hassan and Beatrice Chepkoech in the women’s 5000m event; it could be the most loaded field of the evening. Sifan Hassan has two world records; for the one mile and the 5km road race. Beatrice Chepkoech has the women steeplechase’s world record while Hellen Obiri is a great racer. With these three women in one race, it surely will be one special race to watch.
