The Kenyan pair of Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon and training partner Timothy Cheruiyot, the world 1500m champion, have been added to a glittering athletics field set to feature at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco on August 14.
Kipyegon, who’s also making her event debut, will contest the 1000m in which she’ll face world 800m champion Halimah Nakaayi and European 1500m champion Laura Muir.
They will all join the previously announced stars, including Ethiopian-born Dutchwoman and double world champion Sifan Hassan, world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya, as well as world 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda.
Last week, Kenyan steeplechaser Conseslus Kipruto confirmed his participation in the event.
The world and Olympic champion in the 3000m steeplechase will headline that event, always a popular fixture in Monaco.
Kipruto emerged victorious at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha last year.
Kipruto had an uphill battle to retain the world 3000-metre steeplechase title. The injury had laid him low before the event, and he was up against stern competition from worthy opponents. But, like the champion he is, he found a way to win.
In 2018, he won the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich, snatching victory from what seemed an inevitable defeat.
On that night, Kipruto beat Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali, despite losing a shoe on the first lap, twice conceding a break to his opponent, losing ground at the final water-jump and trailing off the final hurdle.
Despite all that – or, perversely, could it be because of all that – Kipruto somehow got himself to the line centimetres ahead of a despairing El Bakkali. Nobody saw that coming, least of all El Bakkali, whose arms were spread acclaiming a victory which had just evaporated before his own eyes.
Fellow African middle-distance star announced for the Wanda Diamond League is Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda, the surprise 800m champion in Doha last year.
In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo
You must be logged in to post a comment Login