Commonwealth Games 10,000m: Kiplagat determined to win 10,000m today

Florence Kiplagat of Police and Joyce Chepkirui at the Nationals at Nyayo Stadium on June 6. [PHOTO: DENNIS OKEYO]

Determination describes Florence Kiplagat’s drive to win 10,000m final at the Hampden Park Stadium tonight.

She is not your typical athlete. She perfectly juggles cross country, track and road racing and produces exemplary performance.

Kiplagat, who holds 21km world record and a two-time Berlin Marathon winner, said she is ready for the contest that runs at 9:07pm.

“For a long time, I have suffered injuries and this time round, I am in good shape. Whenever I settle on a race, I usually give my all,” Kiplagat said yesterday.

She ended Kenya’s 16-year-old gold drought at the 2009 world cross-country championships in Amman, Jordan, and then went ahead to break the world 21km record in Barcelona last year.

Kiplagat, inspired by her uncle and role model Michael Kiplagat, a former Berlin Marathon winner, will be out to cause some surprises as she prepares to compete in Chicago Marathon in October, which would be attacking the world 42km record.

Kiplagat, who comes from Kapkitony in Keiyo South, basks in a 30:11 personal best in 10,000m.

“I want to do my national duty here and head back home for Chicago Marathon,” said Kiplagat, who is managed by Dutch Jos Hermens.

She will join forces with All Africa Games 1,500m silver medalist Joyce Chepkirui and two-time world cross country champion Emily Chebet.

Kiplagat says probability for Kenyans to retain the title is high given its on-form athletes.

“We have the best athletes in 10,000m. My team mates are strong and I am sure we will run very well,” she said.

The 27-year-old Kiplagat said she does not promise her fans victory but will perform to her best.
That’s not bad for a girl who played football excellently while in school just like world 1,500m silver medalist Silas Kiplagat and marathoner Nelson Kirwa Rotich.

“I never took part in athletics while in primary and secondary school. I was a football striker in the primary schools team and I even led the team to nationals at Bukhungu Stadium, Kakamega, and formed the Kenyan team to the East and Central Africa Primary Schools in Kampala, Uganda.”

Kiplagat was forced into running after completing Form Four when her uncle William Kiplagat, a marathoner, gave her two options to take: you either run full time or strive to attain qualifying mark for United States University track and cross-country scholarships.

Kiplagat completed Form Four Student at Sergoit Secondary School in Keiyo North in 2005, the school that world 3,000m steeplechase record holder Kenyan-turned-Qatari Said Shaheen attended.

Chepkirui, who trains in Iten, wants to atone her missing from the national team.