Moraa hoping for victory dance in Doha meeting

Mary Moraa celebrates after winning the 800m race at the Kip Keino Classic meeting at Nyayo Stadium on April 20. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

World 800m champion Mary Moraa is eyeing victory and possibly another entertaining dance at the third leg of the Diamond League series in Doha on Friday.

Moraa sprinted to a sweet 800m victory at the Kip Keino Classic Continental Tour in Nairobi last month.

Today, she highlights the women’s 800m contest in Doha, Qatar with the hope of another historic win.

She will be the only Kenyan woman in a two-lap race which has World Indoor silver medallist Jemma Reekie of Great Britain also vying for a top spot.

Moraa takes to the Doha meeting her recent brilliance and dominance in the 800m race.

In recent years, she has lowered her personal best from 2:03.27 in 2020 to 1:56.03 with a world title in Budapest last year.

Reekie, the British indoor mile record holder (4:17.88) has since delivered a series of impressive championship performances including finishing runner-up at the 2024 World Indoors in Glasgow and reaching the finals of the last Olympic Games in Tokyo and World Championships in Budapest last year, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Moraa has however defeated Reekie five times out of seven in their most recent head-to-heads.

The Briton narrowly missed the Olympic podium in Tokyo and is ready to take on Moraa.

World Indoor bronze medallist Noelie Yarigo of Benin, Olympic finalist and Jamaican record holder Natoya Goule-Toppin, and 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi from Uganda are also in the podium finish contention in Doha.

Two-time World Cross Country champion Beatrice Chebet will be eyeing glory in the women’s 5,000m.

Chebet, the 2022 Diamond League trophy winner, defended her World Cross Country in March, in style.

Olympic silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot is heading to Doha where he won the 2019 world title.

Cheruiyot will be in the company of fast-rising star Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot in the Doha meeting.

Reynold is the 2022 World Under-20 champion and the African Under-20 gold medallist.

He set a world age-group record in the mile (3:48.06) at the Prefontaine Classic in September 2023 and more recently won the Kip Keino Classic 1500m in 3:31.96.

Abel Kipsang, a fourth-place finisher at the Budapest World Championships is also in the mix.

The trio will be lining up against world bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordas of Norway in the men’s 1500m field bursting with youth and experience.

Cheruiyot opened his season with a 1:46.56 performance at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on April 20.

“While I was proud to have represented my country at my fifth consecutive World Championships last year, it took me some time to recover from a knee injury that was affecting my performances. My race fitness isn’t quite where I’d like it to be at this time of year, but the most important thing is that I’m healthy and happy.

"I’m looking forward to racing in Doha – a country where I have such wonderful memories of winning world gold – and putting down an important marker as I build towards the Kenyan Olympic trials,” Cheruiyot told Wanda Diamond League.

Nordas’ World Championships bronze came in a memorable race in Budapest which saw him finish closely behind compatriot Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Ethiopia's Samuel Tefera and Spain's Adel Mechaal are among notable names in the 1500m line up.

The women’s 1500m will feature Kenya's Nelly Chepchirchir, who finished fifth at the 2023 Budapest World Championships.