Chris Musumba
18 July 2008
Nairobi — For the fifth time this season, women's world 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei will try to block sensation Pamela Jelimo from her dream jackpot hunt in the Paris IAAF Golden League Friday.
Jelimo and Jepkosgei, the two Kapsabet-based runners, are the best in the two-lap race this season. They are fierce rivals on the track and best friends off it.
Both aim to win an Olympic gold medal in Beijing next month and become the first Kenyan women runners to achieve the feat.
However, there is the business of the IAAF Golden League series that they will have to sort out.
Jelimo will share in the $1 million (Sh66 million) Golden Jackpot if she wins all the remaining races in the series. Only two athletes remain in the running for the jackpot.
Jelimo has dominated the four races the two have run against each other this season, finishing at least three seconds ahead of Jepkosgei each time.
Victory for her in Paris Friday will leave her with only two races - in Zurich and Brussels - to get a share of the jackpot.
She has run sub-1:56 four times this season - including her world junior record 1:54.99 in Berlin last month, followed by 1:55.41 in Oslo, 1:55.69 in Rome and 1:55.76 in Hengelo.
Recording 1:58.74 to finish runner-up in Rome, Jepkosgei can take heart from the fact that it was not until after the Golden Gala meeting last season, held in the corresponding week of July, that her form picked up.
She ran her eight quickest times of the season after Rome, ranging from 1:56.04 to 1:59.03, winning every race, including the world title, the World Athletics Final, and the Golden League in Zurich and Berlin.
While admitting that it is "a bit disturbing" to see Jelimo so far ahead, Jepkosgei is working out her plan.
There will be other Kenyans in the Paris meet Friday, running in 3,000m race.
World 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist Richard Matelong, Edwin Soi and Thomas Longosiwa are all in Paris to test their speed work.
Matelong won in Hengelo in May and has not featured in any event since. Silvia Kibet, fourth in Osaka last year, and Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion Lucy Wangui Kabuu will race in the 5,000m race, where they are expected to meet the Ethiopian trio of Meseret Defar, Meselech Melkamu, and Belaynesh Fekadu.
Viola Kibiwott will be in her speciality 1,500m event. Moses Masai will carry the country hopes in the men 5,000m race which will be his last build up race before heading to Beijing where he is lined up to battle the Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele in the 10,000m race.
Meanwhile Athletics Kenya (AK) head coach Julius Kirwa has also released World 3,000m steeplechase champion Brimin Kipruto to travel home to attend the burial of his grandmother. World 5,000m silver medallist Eliud Kipchoge has accompanied him.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
