Kenyas Yator out to reclaim title in Langueux

Kenya’s Gladys Yator will stand between Meskerem Amare and her bid to retain the Corrida de Langueux title as the 27th edition goes down on Saturday in France.

Amare will be looking to follow up on her success from 2016 when she clocked 32:31, 16 seconds shy of her best set in Houilles the year before.

But it won’t be an easy task for the Ethiopian as she faces Yator who ran a 31:40 course record in Langueux in 2015, which is the fastest PB of the women’s field.

This year Yator, 25, prevailed in the two 10km in which she took part, breaking the tape in 32:16 in Edinburgh and 33:10 in Settat last month.

The men’s contest, which will crown a new champion, is expected to be a wide open contest. Dawit Fikadu, who was third in Langueux in 2014, can boast of having the fastest personal best of the field.

Although he is the only athlete to have a sub-28:00 PB to his credit thanks to his 27:56 set in Casablanca in 2016, the 21-year-old Bahraini hasn’t showed good form yet this season, finishing runner-up twice over 10km in 29:57 and 29:34.

Will the 2014 Sao Paulo Corrida champion be recovering all his means?

Haymanot Alewe, 20, should be one of his main rivals. The 19-year-old Ethiopian was runner-up at the 2015 Corrida de Houilles in a PB of 28:11. He wound up fourth in Casablanca in May clocking a 2017 best of 28:30.

Kenya’s Patrick Mutunga appears to be a strong opponent on the heels of his career best of 28:39 set in Settat one month ago.

Not to be discounted as well is Morocco’s Hicham Laqouahi. The 28-year-old athlete finished seven seconds behind Mutunga in Settat when he clocked a 28:46 PB. He will be aiming to confirm this performance on Saturday.

Laqouahi was also second at the Marrakech marathon in a best of 2:10:24.

Peter Limo will be looking to glean a second victory this season following a win at the Half Marathon of Meknès in a PB of 1:01:29. Two weeks later, at the end of February, Limo finished runner-up in Casablanca in a best of 28:51.

His compatriot Bernard Kitur will also be a man to watch. The 27-year-old has showed his good form clocking a best of 2:08:38 in the marathon in April. Nevertheless he might lack speed work to run fast in Langueux.

-Material sourced from IAAF used to compile this report.