Kiprop seeks fourth World Title in London

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

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 10- Asbel Kiprop will be gunning for his fourth 1500m World Championship title when he takes on to the track on Thursday evening at the Olympic Stadium in London, well aware that he faces his biggest threat yet.

Kiprop who has won every 1500m final on the World Championship stage from Daegu in 2011 has admitted he does not go into the race as a favorite as has been the norm, but will present his case on the track fuelled by his own ambition.

He does not expect competition from elsewhere else, but his three other teammates. He has to contend with the surge of world leader Elijah Manang’oi, African silver medalist Timothy Cheruiyot and Ronald Kwemoi.

“It will be a tough race, no doubt. Looking at our team, we are very strong. Every athlete in Team Kenya has the ability to win gold. I know it will be a very tough race but that makes me happy because either way, the gold medal will come home,” Kiprop told Capital Sport before departure to London.

The 28-year-old wants to bow out in style as he runs his last 1500m race in the World Championship with eyes set on transiting to the 5,000m race after next year’s Commonwealth Games.

Timothy Kitum leading Elijah Manangoi and Asbel Kiprop in training at Kasarani Stadium.Photo/RAYMOND MAKHAYA

“At the World Championship, this is the last time I am running in the 1500m. Maybe next year I can run in the Commonwealth Games. But my journey is already headed to a longer distance because I have already started training for it,” he added.

However, he isn’t in the best of forms. This season his best performance in the IAAF Diamond League has been a third place finish in the London Anniversary Games where he ran in the 800m race to check up on his speed.

He finished 24th running the Mile in the Prefontaine Classic in May while he finished fourth in the 1500m race at the Stockholm Diamond League leg and his last race on the circuit in Rabat, Morocco ended up in an 11th place finish.

“I am not worried at all. I might have started my preparations abit late and hence why I was slow in catching up but I know what is needed in the championship. I think it can work in my advantage because I haven’t spent a lot of energy. In the previous seasons, I have been picking up very early,” Kiprop explains.

The pains of a below par performance in Rio last year still linger in his memories. Kiprop topped both his heat and the semi-final but ended up performing below expectation to finish sixth on a night when everybody expected gold from him.

Asbel Kiprop in the 1500m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Getty Images) © Copyright.

“I am still disappointed with that performance and I know most of the times that I have not lived up to expectation was because of making poor decisions. But I can’t really bring myself down because of that. We know very many great athletes who won multiple titles but struggled in the Olympics. That is behind my back now, let’s see how London goes,” added the lanky athlete.

American Mathew Centrowitz who toppled Kiprop to the gold medal in Rio will be lining up in his heat alongside Manang’oi and Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski. The American has a season’s best of 3:33.41, a few chops off Kiprop’s 3:30.17.

World silver medalist Manang’oi is the form man of the field and he ranks as one of the only two athletes of the entire field of 45 in Rio to have dipped under 3:30 this season having run a personal best and World Lead of 3:28.80 in Monaco.

World 1500m silver medallist Elijah Manang’oi at the 2015 World Championships.

The other man to have gone under 3:30 this season is compatriot Timothy Cheruiyot who ran 3:29.10 while finishing second behind him in Monaco last month.

“This is a good team and we will work together to ensure we get to the final. Whoever wins, we will all be happy. So long as the medal remains in Kenya, we are okay,” Kiprop further opined.

Ronald Kwemoi who won in Doha and Eugene in May before picking second spot in Paris and third in Monaco behind Manang’oi and Cheruiyot in Monaco last month is also another man to watch out for.

The post Kiprop seeks fourth World Title in London appeared first on Capital Sports.