Chebet unfazed by Sifan, Tsegay in London meeting

Commonwealth Games 5,000 metres champion, Beatrice Chebet, is under no pressure as she prepares to compete against double Olympic champion Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan and world champion Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay at the London Diamond League on Sunday.

The 5,000m race is a repeat of the World Athletics Championships final in Oregon last year, which Tsegay won in 14 minutes and 46.29 seconds as Chebet settled for silver in 14:46.75.
Hassan, who was the favourite going into the race, finished sixth in 14:48.12.

“I am ready and well prepared, hoping for the best as I prepare for the world event next month,” Chebet, the 2022 Diamond League Trophy winner, told Nation Sport on phone from London.

Chebet has competed in nine various races this season with the most profound coming from her World Athletics Cross Country Championships women’s 10km victory on February on 18 in Bathurst, Australia.

Chebet, 23 also has two Diamond League wins this season; in 3,000m (8:25.01) in Oslo on June 15, and 5,000m (14:36.52) in Stockholm on July 2.

Tsegay has competed in only two outdoor races this season when she won the 1,500m race at Rabat Diamond League in May and the 10,000m during the Ethiopia trials for the world championships in Spain in June.

Hassan has competed in two events this year, winning the London Marathon on debut over the distance in 2:18:33 on April 23 and the 1,500m (3:58.12) and 10,000m (29:37.80) races at the FBK Games in Hengelo, her home country, in June.

But local fans will be cheering for Eilish McColgan, the reigning Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion, who finished 11th in the 5,000m final in Oregon.

The 3,000m steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech, who won in Lausanne on June 30, her first Diamond League victory since 2019, and Commonwealth Games champion Jackline Chepkoech will highlight women’s 3,000m steeplechase.

The 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot is the only Kenyan in the men's 1,500m contest where the Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway will be missing in action.

Beatrice Chepkoech and Jackline Chepkoech are fresh from reigning supreme in that order during the national trials for the world championships on July 8. Beatrice has lifetime best of 8:44.32 from her world record exploits in 2018 Monaco.

Cheruiyot, the Olympic silver medallist, who was fourth in Oslo in 3:29.08, returns to the London Stadium where he finished runner up at the 2017 World Championships. His lifetime best is 3:28.28 from Monaco in 2021.

Cheruiyot, who won the national trials for the world event, will face Yared Nugese, the recently crowned USA national champion and Mario Garcia (Spain), fourth in the World Championships in Oregon among others.

Meanwhile, Athletics Kenya (AK) has only one opportunity remaining for the 4x400 metres mixed relays team to compete outside the country in pursuit of qualifying for the World Athletics Championships.

AK director of competitions Paul Mutwii said the mixed relay team will field in the True Athletes Classics Meeting on July 29 at Manfort Stadium, Leverkusen, Germany.

Mutwii said that the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m won’t have another chance of trying to qualify through world ranking after they competed in Belgium and Botswana respectively.

The men’s 4x100m led by Ferdinand Omanyala finished second in 39.30 seconds at the International Athletics Meeting of the Province of Liège, Belgium on July 12. Spain won in 39.06.

The men’s 4x400m and 4x400m mixed relays fielded at the Botswana National Championships last weekend, winning in 3:03.29 and 3:15.92 respectively.

All the times fell out of the top 16 in the world ranking.