Olympic and world 1,500 metres champion Faith Chepng’etich will decide today if she will compete in the Absa Kip Keino Classic Continental Tour on Saturday.
“I can’t talk about the Kip Keino Classic now but hopefully I will decide tomorrow (today) or the day after,” said Chepng’etich who won in her specialty during the 2021 edition of the Tour.
She spoke on Saturday night at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when she jetted back into the country from Qatar where she won the Doha Diamond League 1,500m race with a world lead time of three minutes and 58.57 seconds.
“However, I want to welcome everyone coming for the Kip Keino Classic and see you on Saturday.
“Starting my track season strongly with a world lead is a good thing and I thank God for that. It’s a sign of good things to come this season and it’s my prayer that things falls in place well,” she said.
Chepng’etich said that she had planned for a better time in Doha but the windy arena impeded that.
Faith Kipyegon arrives at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on May 6, 2023.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
“I expected a world lead after good preparations and a faster pace than 3:58 but I guess the weather wasn’t conducive,” she said.
Chepng’etich has vowed to post faster times this season as she also targets a three-peat at the World Athletics Championships on August 19 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary.
“This season is all about going faster and faster,” she said as she recalled coming very close to breaking the world record in 1,500m last year.
Chepng’etich, who recaptured the world 1,500m title on July 18 last year in Oregon, USA, went on to win the Monaco leg of the Diamond League in yet another national record time of 3: 3:50.37, missing the world record by just three tenths of a second on August 10 last year.
Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba holds the world record of 3:50.07 set in Monaco in 2015.
“I am looking to make another attempt this year and I hope everything goes well. I pray to stay healthy and injury free,” said Chepng’etich, who is regarded as the all-time greatest 1,500m female athlete.
“There is nothing impossible. I will keep on trying, pushing and knocking on the world record’s door. I have a feeling that this will be the year,” said the 29-year-old.
At the same time, the 2014 World Indoor Championships 800m silver medallist Angelika Cichocka from Poland was the first foreign athlete to arrive in the country for the Kip Keino Classic.
“I really don’t want to keep my hopes high. This being my second race of the season,” said Cichocka, who will be competing in the 1,500m race.
Cichocka finished 13th in the 1,500m race at the just-ended Doha Diamond League.
American sprint sensation Sha’Carri Richardson and the reigning two-time world javelin champion Anderson Peters of Grenade were expected in the country last night for the meet.
Richardson powered through in the closing stages to win the 100m in a world-leading 10.76 in Doha, taking 0.04 off the meeting record set in 2016 by Tori Bowie, who died earlier this week.
World 200m champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith finished second and third in 10.85 and 10.98, respectively.
The delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 world 200m silver medallist Kenneth Bednarek from the US and the world 4x100m champions, the Canadian duo of Aaron Brown were also due in the country last night.
