BATTLE OF TITANS: Top stars for Eldoret meet as Kipchoge Stadium set to be opened

ATHLETICS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Eldoret town comes alive tomorrow and on Saturday as the fifth leg of Athletics Kenya track and field meeting gets underway at the refurbished Kipchoge Keino Stadium.

The spectacle, which will be preceded by the official opening of the renovated stadium by Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, will see elite athletes compete against a number of upstarts as the chase for bragging rights to the IAAF World Athletics Championships set for Beijing, China, in August start in earnest.

The stadium has stalled since 2010 when the renovation works started after then President Mwai Kibaki ordered for a facelift of the facility.

Dr Kipchoge Keino, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya chairman and 1968 Olympic 1,500m champion, will grace the ceremony, alongside officials from the Ministry of Sports.

The North Rift region, often billed as the Mecca of world’s athletics, will no doubt choke with humanity as global track stars, who are fresh from competing in Diamond League meetings in Doha, Qatar (May 15) and Shanghai, China (May 17) battle for glory at home.

Most of them will also use the event to tune up their speed and endurance ahead of the forthcoming IAAF Diamond League meetings in Eugene, Oregon (May 30), Rome (June 4), Birmingham (June 7), Oslo (June 11) and New York on June 13.

World 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop, who finished fifth in 800m at the Doha meet last Friday, is expected to compete at the Kipchoge Stadium.

The 25-year-old Kiprop is keen to make amends to counter his track rival Silas Kiplagat, who won the 1,500m race in the Shanghai meet on Sunday evening in a world leading time of 3:35.29.

“We will reach Nairobi and access our fitness. But I will really want to be part of the first competitors in the stadium,” Kiplagat told Feverpitch after winning 1,500m race in Shanghai on Sunday.

Olympic 1,500m sensation Nixon Chepseba, another star to watch who has played the bridemaids role to Kiprop and Kiplagat for long, will be out to answer his critics having finished ninth in Shanghai in 3:36.37 season best despite basking in Shanghai’s meet record of 3:31.42.

World 800m champion Eunice Sum, the two-lap race winner in Shanghai, and her mentor Janeth Jepkosgei are expected to extend their 800m battle.

Olympic 800m bronze medallist Timothy Kitum and little-known 5,000m runner Amos Korir are also expected to raise the adrenaline.

But Kitum could use the championship to gauge his form ahead of his dream duel with fellow teenager and Olympic 800m silver medallist Nijel Amos of Botswana at the World Championship, which only hangs on his performance at the national trials.

Foreign runners notably Ugandans training in Eldoret and those from Kipkeino High Performance Training Centre in Eldoret will lend colour to the meet.

Athletics Kenya public relations officer Evans Bosire said they expected a high standard competition.

“With the championship in Eldoret, where the tartan track will be unveiled, we expect athletes to turn up in large numbers,” said Bosire.