Key moments to look out for at Rio 2016 Trials

Key moments to look out for at Rio 2016 Trials

The Kenyan Trials have been labelled the ‘mini-Olympics’ especially in middle distance races and Eldoret is expected to serve up memorable moments and give the world what to expect during the Brazil Summer Games on Thursday and Friday.

In the recent past, the selection event in the athletics power house has served up epic battles as the country’s finest track and field exponents put reputations, stature and lives on the line to be included in the team.

In 2008, two-time Olympics champion, Ezekiel Kemboi dived three metres from the line to win the men 3000m steeplechase Trials ahead of Richard Mateelong and Brimin Kipruto who went on to win the crown in Beijing.

It was also here at Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium that Pamela Jelimo, scorched then world champion Janeth Jepkosgei in a storming soil record of 1:57.71 en route to setting a world junior record 1:54.01 in China for Kenya’s first female Olympics medal on the track.

Four years later, David Rudisha set a high altitude world record of 1:42.11 to give notice of his jaw-dropping 1:40.91 world record to win Olympics gold in London where seven of the  eight starters ran personal bests in one of the most enduring individual performances in the Games’ history.

That year, the savage men 5000m Trial won by Isaiah Kiplangat Koech left most of the competitors bloodied from the stamping in a race that signalled the end of the glittering track career of Beijing 2008 silver winner and 2003 world champion, Eliud Kipchoge after he was forced down the order to seventh.

Here are some of the flashes expected to define the 2016 Trials

Rudisha vs Ferguson

At last year’s Trials for the IAAF Beijing World championships, Ferguson Rotich hit global headlines when he handed record holder Rudisha his first defeat on home soil since he turned into a senior at Safaricom Stadium in Kasarani.

The result added the doubts on whether Rudisha, who was finding his way back to the top of the men 800m throne, was a spent force after two injury-plagued seasons in a year where Botswana’s Nijel Amos had handed him five straight defeats.

In China, ‘King David’ delivered the perfect riposte when he won his second world title where Rotich finished fourth.

At the Shanghai Diamond League on May 14, Rotich once again stunned Rudisha when he came charging the home straight for the victory in 1:45.68 and on May 26, the fourth finisher from Beijing ran 1:45.07 in a rain-swept Stockholm DL meet to beat the record holder again.

In Shanghai, Rudisha cited a bad start occasioned when the women High jumpers failed to clear from the track for the loss and in Sweden, his well known enemy, cold weather put paid for his hopes. Eldoret is waiting to see whether Rotich can steal a match by completing the hat-trick against the king.

Julius Yego and Nicholas Bett

Julius Yego, the men Javelin African record holder competes during the finals of the Athletics Kenya 6th Track and Field meet at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret County on April 16, 2016. Photo/Sylvanus Kipkosgei/www.Sportpicha.com.
Julius Yego, the men Javelin African record holder competes during the finals of the Athletics Kenya 6th Track and Field meet at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret County on April 16, 2016. Photo/Sylvanus Kipkosgei/www.Sportpicha.com.

Since winning historic first world titles in Beijing last year, Julius Yego and Nicholas Bett have failed to convince in their quest to add the Olympics crown after putting together unconvincing results on the international stage.

By this time last year, Yego had already had already served notice of intent to add the world title to his Commonwealth crown when he threw the monster 91.39m African record at the Birmgham DL meet on June 7.

Much better was to come in China when he won the top medal in the best throw in a decade to smash his own African record with 92.72m to add another pioneering achievement to his long list of honours having won the Trials with 83.10m on the board.

This season, the best he has thrown is 84.68m that ranks 13th in the world for second in the Pre Fontaine Classic DL that stands out in a campaign that has yielded little to underline his Olympics credentials.

He has been one of the prominent critics of holding the Trials in Eldoret and having thrown 78.68 at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in the sixth AK Track and Field meeting on April 16, the ‘You Tube’ man is under pressure to convince the home crowd he is ready for another party after Rio.

While Yego has stuttered in his quest to regain top form, Bett has simply disappeared from the radar and has it all to do against an imposing cast in the men 400m Hurdles if he is to punch his Rio ticket.

Having shocked everyone, including himself when he stormed to victory from Lane 9, Bett has a 49.69 season’s best from the Shanghai DL meet that is ranked 36th in the world.

Ominously, Boniface Mucheru, who was fifth in Beijing having entered as the Kenyan favourite is in top shape having won the African title in Durban last week besides his twin brother, Aron Koech who took the bronze.

Bett is running out of time to prove he was not a one hit wonder.

The men 3000m steeplechase

Fredrick Kipkosgei, Conseslus Kipruto and Jairus Birech compete in the 500m race during the Athletics Kenya 6th Track and Field meet in Eldoret County on April 14, 2016. Conseslus Kipruto won the race. Photo/Sylvanus Kipkosgei/www.Sportpicha.com.
Fredrick Kipkosgei, Conseslus Kipruto and Jairus Birech compete in the 500m race during the Athletics Kenya 6th Track and Field meet in Eldoret County on April 14, 2016. Conseslus Kipruto won the race. Photo/Sylvanus Kipkosgei/www.Sportpicha.com.

Over the years, the men 3000m steeplechase, aptly christened ‘Kenya’s Race’ has attracted some of the fiercest competition and in Eldoret, the man to beat is Beijing silver medallist, Conseslus Kipruto who has won four DL races in a row this season.

Every race he has run has returned a world lead, the latest the 8:00.12 effort in Birmingham where he came agonisingly close to shattering the 8:00 barrier and the 21 year-old is the presumptive heir to the great Ezekiel Kemboi.

Just like the past three seasons when he has swept to the world titles in Moscow 2013 and Beijing 2015, Kemboi has had nothing to write home about in the international season, with an 8:14.13 season’s best run for victory at the Beijing World Athletics Challenge meeting the only notable performance.

Two-time IAAF Diamond League winner, Jairus Birech has also failed to fulfil his lofty ambitions of breaking the world record before the Olympics having failed to get better of Conseslus this term.

Veterans, 2008 Beijing gold medallist, Brimin Kipruto and ageing circuit speedster Paul Kipsiele Koech are other seasoned campaigners on the hunt in what is shaping up to be an intriguing contest for Rio slots.

 

Tags:

Conseslus Kipruto olympics David Rudisha Ezekiel Kemboi Nicholas Bett Rio 2016 Kenyan Trials

Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000

Leave a Comment

Comments

No comments yet.

latest stories