Athletics: It's Kenya versus Ethiopia in junior races again

Junior 8km men battle it out during the National Cross Country Championship at Uhuru Gardens on February 18, 2017. [Dennis Okeyo, Standard]

Kenya’s battle with eternal rivals Ethiopia is expected in the under-20 showdown at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, tomorrow.

In women’s under-20, Ethiopia and Kenya have won all of the 26 women’s U20 team titles in IAAF World Cross Country Championships history.

Kenya have taken the top spot in 15 editions to Ethiopia’s 11 and in all but six editions, they have occupied the top two spots.

You have to go back 24 years to 1995 to find the last individual winner not from either of these countries too, when Annemari Sandell of Finland struck gold in Durham and the two countries have enjoyed a clean sweep of the individual podium in every edition since 1999, when Japanese athlete Yoshiko Fujinaga made the podium in third. Looking at the lineup, it looks unlikely that any other nation will spoil the East African party.

World U20 5000m champion Beatrice Chebet will start as one of the favourites and will be backed up by Betty Kibet and Jackline Rotich.

Ethiopian’s Girmawit Gebrzihair, the 2018 African U20 cross country champion, took the Ethiopian title last month and will be hoping to keep the individual title in her nation. She will lead the Ethiopian squad to their third successive team title alongside Alemitu Tariku, Tsige Gebreselama, Meselu Berhe and Wede Kefale.

In men’s under-20, all the 39 individual medals on offer from the past 13 editions have been shared between Kenya (23), Ethiopia (10) and Uganda (6).

Kenyan team appears strong as it has Samuel Chebolei, Commonwealth Youth Games 3000m champion Edwin Kiplangat Bett, who finished eighth in Kampala, and Leonard Bett, the world U18 steeplechase champion.

Bett is the world U20 steeplechase silver medallist and made a couple of appearances on the IAAF Diamond League circuit last year.