0
NAIROBI: Kenya’s record-breaking running star Faith Kipyegon confirmed on Friday she will go for a 1,500m-5,000m double at the world championships in Budapest next month.
The 29-year-old smashed the world records in both events in June, running 3:49.11 in the 1,500m in Florence, and seven days later an explosive 14:05.20 in her 5,000m debut race at the Paris Diamond League.
Kipyegon was back in sparkling form again on Friday when she clinched victory in the women’s 5,000m at the Kenyan trials for the world championships taking place in the Hungarian capital in August.
“I didn’t expect to win the 5,000m here today, as I did in Paris, but I did and I am happy about it,” said Kipyegon, who clocked a time of 14:53.90, ahead of Lilian Kasait and Margaret Chelimo.
“The 1,500m remains my favourite event but I am doing very well in the 5,000m. So I am going to double up in both the 1,500m and 5,000m in Budapest,” she added.
Kipyegon, considered the greatest ever women’s 1,500m runner, won gold in the discipline at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021.
World 800m bronze medallist Mary Moraa bettered her national 400m record for the second time this year to qualify for the world championships.
Moraa, who is also the Commonwealth 800m champion, ran a solo effort to clock 50.38 seconds, obliterating her earlier time of 50.44 which she recorded during the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in April.
She said she was ready to run both the 400m and 800m in Budapest if she is selected on Saturday.
“I have trained hard for both events and, if the selectors want, I can do the 400m-800m in Budapest,” Moraa said.
In the men’s events, Boniface Mweresa returned from a doping suspension to win one of the two 400m semi-finals and qualify for Saturday’s final.
Kenyan 400m champion Zablon Ekuam won the first semi-final in a time of 45.77sec to set up a clash with Mweresa, who remains the only Kenyan to have attained the 45.00sec qualifying mark for the world championships in the event.
Nicholas Kimeli won the men’s 10,000m in a time of 27:29.8, beating Commonwealth silver medallist Daniel Simiu Ebenyo into second place and Bernard Kibet in third.
Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2023
