Olympic champion Kipruto set for Ostrava return

Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto will headline the men’s 3000m steeplechase at Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic on 28 June, organisers of the IAAF World Challenge meeting have announced.

The men’s event was last staged in Ostrava in 2013 when Kipruto, then a rising star in the event and still just 18, took a comfortable victory less than two months before racing to silver at the World Championships in Moscow.

This year the Kenyan returns as the reigning Olympic champion, one of seven already confirmed for the event.

-Cermany vs Czech Republic in Men’s Javelin team match-

Rio winners Mo Farah, Wayde Van Niekerk, David Rudisha, Christian Taylor and Anita Wlodarczyk have already been announced, along with Germany’s Thomas Rohler who will headline a unique Germany vs Czech Republic match in the men’s javelin throw.

Rohler, who opened his season with a mammoth 93.90m effort in Doha on 5 May, will lead a German quartet that includes Johannes Vetter, Andreas Hofmann and Lars Hamann against a Czech squad composed of 2017 IAAF Diamond League winner Jakub Vadlejch, 2013 world champion Vitezslav Vesely, Jaroslav Jilek and Petr Frydrych.

The German team, which will be captained by 1972 Olympic champion Klaus Wolfermann, has exhibited extraordinary form and depth this season, with Vetter improving to 89.68m in Doha, Hoffman to 88.79m in Offenburg, and Hamann to 86.71m, also at the 13 May meeting in Offenburg.

On current form, the standout on the Czech squad, captained by throwing legend Jan Zelezny, is Vadlejch who has twice come within 20 centimetres of 88 metres this season.

Each of the eight men will have six throws, with the best counting in the team tally.

-Report by iaaf.org