Manangoi Jr braced for Doha Worlds showdown

Philip Muchiri in Doha, Qatar

Despite the absence of his elder brother Elijah who is the World 1,500m champion, youngster George Manangoi feels focussed to make sure the medal is retained in Kenya and more so in his family.

The U20 World Champion has a personal best of 3:31.49 set in Stade Louis II, Monaco, on July 12.

“I pray that God blesses me with gold, before I came here my target was a podium finish, and it still stands,” he said.

He draws his inspiration from his brother who will sit this one out following an ankle injury that forced him to pull out and fail to defend the title he won in London 2017.

“Now I have no reason to lose I am doing it for my country and mostly my brother who wants the Gold to remain in the family,” he asserted.

He is however optimistic of stiff challenge from non Kenyan athletes, but he believes with good team work with more experienced athlete in team Kenya this will be a walk in the park.

“Timothy Cheruiyot is in shape and he is a role model, my aim is we all qualify for the semis then finals where we will use team work to conquer the world,” he added.

Also in the hunt for a place in the semi final is another youthful athlete Kumari Taki, the 2016 world junior champion in Bydgoszcz where he set a personal best of 3:48.63.

Timothy Cheruiyot and Ronald Kwemoi complete Kenya’s quartet. The race begins at 22:00 Hrs.

With still no gold in contention for team Kenya, on Day seven the only other event will be the women’s 1,500 where Faith Chepn’getich Kipyegon and Winny Chebet return to the Khalifa international stadium for the semifinals.

The two qualified after finishing second and third in heat one and two respectively.

 “I thank God I came from maternity leave even strong, this heat had the newly crowned 10,000m Champion, Sifan Hassan and she made it fast; let’s wait and see the semi final,” Elated Cheng’etich told Citizen digital after the race.