Triple Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon, double world record holder Beatrice Chebet and Agnes Ngetich have promised to work together for a podium finish in the women’s 5000m final at the World Championships in Tokyo on Saturday.
Kipyegon said they will sit down together and develop an impenetrable strategy to ensure they all walk away with medals at the 12-and-a-half lap race.
“We will sit down as a team and plan well on what to do. It is a very strong team comprising of three strong athletes and I am hopeful we will do well,” the defending World 5000m champion said.
She already has one gold medal in the bag, courtesy of the women’s 1500m.
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The double world record holder clocked 3:52.15 to claim a historic fourth world title and etch her name in annals of the sport as a legend.
Echoing Kipyegon’s sentiments, newly crowned world 10,000m champion Beatrice Chebet said their successes at the competition thus far have boosted their morale heading to the final.
“I know it is not going to be an easy race but we are going to work together as Team Kenya. We are ready for finals and we hope for good results because we have already done well in our other races so we are highly motivated to go for more,” Chebet said.
The double Olympic champion began Kenya’s medal harvest at the global showpiece on Saturday, clocking 30:37.61 to win the women’s 25-lap race at the National Stadium.
She continued her quest for a double when she won Heat 1 of the women’s 5000m on Thursday afternoon.
Chebet clocked 14:45.59 to cross the finish line, ahead of Italian Nadia Battocletti (14:46.36) and Shelby Houlihan (14:46.52) in second and third respectively.
The other one third of this trio, Ngetich, is yet to taste success at the World Championships but is nonetheless unbowed.
The world record holder for the women’s-only 10km and mixed race 10km says she has not given up on her dreams of a medal in Tokyo.
“I am happy…I am in the final…that is what matters the most because we all wanted to be in the finals. Unfortunately, one of us did not make…sorry to Akidor. Three is still a good number and we will represent well. The final will be tough but we will fight to the end and then we will see what is going to happen,” Ngetich said.
She clocked 14:57.90 to finish eighth in Heat 2 of the women’s 5000m on Thursday evening — the same race in which Kipyegon came second in a season’s best (SB) of 14:56.71.
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The lady who won that race, Gudaf Tsegay, will probably present the biggest threats to plans for a podium place.
The Ethiopian will be frothing at the mouth, especially after relinquishing the world title for the women’s 10,000m.
She is also the immediate former world record holder for the women’s 5000m, which was shattered by Chebet at May’s Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.
Battocletti is also proving a ‘nuisance’ going by her steady progress and fighting spirit as epitomised by her performance at last year’s Paris Olympics and the World Championships.
The Italian clocked 30:43.35 to clinch silver in the women’s 10,000m in Paris, backing it up with another second place finish in Saturday’s final.
She could just follow in the footsteps of Frenchman Jimmy Gressier and New Zealander Geordie Beamish who shocked everyone by winning the men’s 10,000m and 3000m steeplechase.
