I am 45 percent fit, Kiprop says after Oregon

Asbel Kiprop is upbeat he will be fit for the IAAF London World Championships Trials.PHOTO/The Star

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 30 – Three time back-to-back 1500m world champion Asbel Kiprop says he is 45 percent fit and is upbeat he will be inform to compete at the June 23-24 Trials for the London IAAF World Championships in Nairobi.

Kiprop had his first competitive race since the Kampala World Cross Country on Saturday at the IAAF Eugene Oregon Diamond League where he finished 13th in 3:58.24 in the men’s Bowerman Mile won by compatriot Ronald Kwemoi (3:49.04).

However, Kiprop said after the race that he was suffering from flue and was running under medication, but he is positive his form will be fully back in two months.

“It was my first race of the season and I had flue when I came here. I lacked power because my chest blocked and that’s the reason I was running from behind,” Kiprop claimed.

“At the moment I’m yet to pick my form, I started training late this year, but hopefully in mid July come the Kenyan Trials I will be okay and ready for the World Championships. At the moment I am around 40 -45 percent fit and it will take me 60 days to be at top level to be able e to compete,” He added.

The 2008 Olympic Champion will be looking to test his fitness at the fifth leg of the IAAF Diamond League in Oslo, Norway June 15.

“I have not done a lot of workout since I ran in Kampala at the World Cross Country and so I am looking to come back strongly. I will go to train for two weeks in Kenya and talk to my coach and see if I will run in Oslo, if I will be ready.”

With the doping mess clouding the country after the announcement that Rio Olympic Women Marathon Champion Jemima Sumgong had failed drugs test in April, Kiprop defended his Rosa Associati management that also served Sumgong.

“I have worked with Rosa since 2008 and they have never introduced me or given me any drug so why should I run away from them when I know they don’t do it. This is about the athlete himself or herself not about the management.  I am the first Kenyan to advocate clean sport and any athlete caught doping should be dealt with according to the law,” the 27-year-old lanky athlete said.

“I don’t tolerate doping. The government should act upon the doctors who administer the banned drugs to athletes by arresting them and take them to prison, I think by doing so it will end this mess completely.”

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