by Justin LagatThe first day of the ten days of athletics is upon us! This is Justin Lagat’s first piece on the Tokyo Olympics, and of course, it is on the 10,000 men’s final, the first track & field final in Tokyo.
Many track fans have followed Joshua Cheptegai since the 2014 World Junior Championships. We know his sponsor, Nike, thought very highly of the promising young athlete, and Joshua, now holding WRs in 5000m and 10,000m, as well as the national record for the 2 mile. The 10,000m will be huge and Justin Lagat will provide us with some deep thoughts on the event!
Joshua Cheptegai, training in Uganda, photo courtesy of NN Running
The first day of athletics at the ongoing Tokyo Olympic Games is finally here and the fans can’t wait to see the action on track beginning tomorrow.
The most anticipated event of the day will be the men’s 10,000m final. Both the 10K and the 10,000m world record holders; Kenya’s Rhonex Kipruto and Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei will be featuring. Kipruto was at first not named in the Kenyan team to Tokyo, but his chance came when Geoffrey Kamworor who had won the Kenyan national trials suffered an injury and had to be replaced by him.
It won’t be easy to predict a potential winner in this event with the presence of Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon Barega, Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed, Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo and Kenya’s Rodgers Kwemoi, among others in the mix. But one thing is clear. It will be one exciting race to watch.
Interestingly, for Kenyan fans, the two events that are of high interest will feature on the first day, and for two different and opposite reasons. In the men’s 3000m steeplechase race, fans will be eager to see if Kenya will extend their dominance while in the men’s 10,000m they will be hoping that a Kenyan finally gets to win the 10,000m Olympic gold medal after over 50 years since Naftali Temu last won it in 1968 at the Mexico Games.
The first track event of the day will be round one of the men’s 3000m steeplechase heats where runners will be securing their places for the final that will happen on Monday the 2nd of August. All eyes will be on Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali.
Sifan Hassan who will have become a common feature by the end of the Games will begin her appearance in the first round of the women’s 5000m race. She is expected to do three events at the Games; the 1500m, the 5000m and the 10,000m races.
The other first-round events on the track will be the women’s 800m and the mixed 4 x 400m mixed relays.
