[ad_1]
Kenya will be out to retain the senior men and women’s crowns when the 43rd IAAF World Cross Country Championships go down in Aarhus, Denmark, today.
The country will also be seeking to recapture junior men and women’s titles at the championship.
Kenya has won the men’s race in the past three editions of the competition, with Geoffrey Kamworor, who is leading the charge this year, triumphing in 2015 and 2017.
Kenyan women have stamped their authority in the senior category, winning the last six editions.
However, the country has failed to win the junior races at the championship.
Kamwowor was the last Kenyan athlete to win the junior men’s title in the 2011 competition, and Faith Chepng’etich in the junior women’s race in 2013.
Since then, it has been a long wait for Kenyan juniors. Kenya only claimed the senior women’s team title in 2017 in Kampala, but again lost the senior men’s team title and all the junior team titles to Ethiopia.
There are high hopes that the senior men’s team, led by Kamworor and which also features experienced Paul Tanui, junior sensation Rhonex Kipruto and Amos Kirui, will not only deliver the individual title but also the team honours.
The onus is on World and Commonwealth 5,000 metres champion Hellen Obiri and 3,000m steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech and their colleagues to uphold the high standards Kenya set in Kampala when the Kenyan women staged a historic sweep of all the first six places.
World Under-20 Championships 5,000m champion Beatrice Chebet and World Under-20 steeplechase silver medallist Leonard Bett should guide the junior teams to victory in individual and team events. We wish the team the best of luck.
[ad_2]
