NO FEAR OF ETHIOPIANS: X-Country champ Tirop revels in her triumph over adversaries as Kamworor reveals golden tactics

World Cross Country Championship 2015
Kenyan Athletes on a truck wave to the public on arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from World Cross Country Championship 2015 held in Guiyang the Capital city of Guizhou Province in China. They arrived on Monday, March 30th. PHOTO/ JONAH ONYANGO

Record-equalling Agnes Jebet Tirop has revealed she banished fears of Ethiopian onslaught- a successful psychological warfare that saw her win the senior women's World Cross Country gold in Guiyang, China.

At 19 years of age, Tirop became only the second youth after then 18-year-old Zola Budd in 1985, to win a senior women's World Cross Country gold.

And it was because she put aside Ethiopian menace led by Senbere Teferi.

“Although I doubted at some point whether I would win this race, I decided to take the Ethiopians head-on,” Tirop said upon arrival from China yesterday.

“At some point I was not sure I would deliver a win for Kenya. I knew the gold was mine when Teferi faded in the final 200 metres,” said Tirop, who crossed the finish line in 26 minutes six seconds to emerge the champion.

“World Cross Country has always been a hard nut for me to crack. I have always been restricted to silver. This time I got gold,” Tirop said, adding that she will take part only in the Diamond League series starting with Shanghai in May.

Tirop now intends to strengthen her finishing kick, which she believes aided her win. She now plans to take part in women’s 5000m in the Diamond League and at the World Championship.

Senior men’s World Cross Country champions Geoffrey Kamworor put down his triumph to a strategy where they went out to tire the Ethiopians.

“We worked as a team with Bedan Karoki also sticking to the game plan.

“Without him (Karoki), the Ethiopians would be celebrating now. Our plan was to tire them in the tedious race. Finally, it worked as I settled for gold and he, silver. This, I hope will be the master plan too if we both make the Beijing squad,” Kamworor said.

Kamworor, who bagged his third World Cross Country medal, after winning gold in 34 minutes 52 seconds, said he is going to concentrate on the men’s 10,000.

Kamworor said he has no plans to take part in other races till August and believes this would increase his focus on the World Championship later in the year.

Buoyed by their performance, Kamworor and Tirop now have their focus on the 15th World Athletics Championship slated for Beijing, China later in the year.

Tirop said she is going to work on a schedule with her coach in her pursuit of gold in China.

Just like Tirop and Kamworor, men’s senior silver medallist Karoki is also focusing on both 5000m and 10,000m in Beijing.

“I am happy with our great performance in Guiyang; even though the weather was foul we managed to pull victories in the senior categories. I believe the chilly weather affected our juniors, who also still need great exposure,” said Karoki.

However, head coach David Letting ruled out the weather in the juniors’ flop, saying the Ethiopians were more experienced and were more tactical in their run than Kenyans.

“The junior race was tough, but Ethiopians cracked it with their tactics,” he said.

The coach has called for early preparations ahead of Beijing, saying it is what will help Kenya ward off stiff competition from Ugandans, Ethiopians and Eritreans.

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