Nairobi — After the completion of the track season, athletes will descend in the Latvian city of Riga to close down the season proper, with the World Road Running Championship, with Team Kenya headlined by double world champion Faith Kipyegon.
Kenya has sent a team of 18 athletes who will compete in three events; the mile, 5km and half marathon.
Here is the rundown of the events on Sunday afternoon.
11:50am - Women's 5km
Kenya's charge will be led by last season's Diamond Trophy winner Beatrice Chebet, who will be seeking her second world title this season after winning the World Cross Country Championship in Australia earlier in the year.
Chebet won silver at the world championships behind Kipyegon in Budapest, but will be keen to close down her season in style on the road.
She is joined in the team by Lilian Kasait who won the 5000m at the Brussels Diamond League earlier this month. She also clocked a 14:23.05 PB when finishing fourth behind world record-breaker Kipyegon in Paris.
12:15pm - Men's 5km
Meanwhile, Kenya's charge in the men's race will be led by Nicholas Kimeli, the fourth fastest 5km runner of all time. Kimeli had a disappointing campaign at the World Championships where he missed out on a medal in the men's 5,000m despite being the world leader heading into Budapest.
He will hope for a better outing in Riga, closing down the season well.
Also lining up for Team Kenya is 2022 world 10,000m silver medallist Stanley Waithaka Mburu and Cornelius Kemboi.
1pm - Women's Road Mile
Double world champion and double world record holder Faith Kipyegon will be lining up as the favourite in this race. She holds the track record for the mile, and will also be tempted by the allure of clocking a world's best time on the road.
Kipyegon has had a hugely successful season, winning two world titles in Budapest in the 1500m and 5,000m and setting three world records, though the 5,000m one was broken by Gudaf Tsegay in Eugene last month.
Also lining up for Team Kenya is youngster Nelly Chepchirchir who is competing with the seniors for the first time.
1:10pm - Men's Road Mile
Youngsters Reynold Cheruiyot and Kyumbe Munguti will line up with the Kenyan singlet for this race.
Cheruiyot, 19, won the world U20 1500m title last year, which he followed with silver in the U20 race at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst back in February. He won the African U20 1500m title two months later, but has focused on senior competition since then.
He clocked a 1500m PB of 3:30.30, putting him fifth on the world U20 all-time list, and came close to matching that time when placing eighth in the World Championships final in 3:30.78.
1:30pm - Women's half marathon
Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir is looking to successfully defend her title. Jepchirchir clinched the crown at the last Championship held in 2020 in Gdynia Poland.
Having struggled with injury through parts of last year, she bounced back to finish third at the London Marathon in April, clocking 2:18:38.
She went on to win the Great North Run half marathon on 10 September, clocking 1:06:45, and she feels in perfect shape heading into Riga.
She will be joined in the field by Irine Kimais, the Kenyan 10,000m champion who finished a fine fourth at the World Championships in Budapest. The 24-year-old is the quickest in the field via her PB of 1:04:37, which she ran to claim victory at the Barcelona Half Marathon in February.
Margaret Chelimo is the other Kenyan in the startlist, boasting a PB of 1:05:26, and she was a 10,000m bronze medallist at last year's World Athletics Championships, finishing fourth in the 5000m this year in Budapest. Catherine Relin is another Kenyan name to watch, the 21-year-old setting her PB of 1:05:39 to finish third in Barcelona in February.
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2:15pm - Men's half marathon
Meanwhile in the men's race, Kenya's representatives will look to reclaim the title they lost last time out in 2020.
Kenya has won the men's individual half marathon title 13 times in 24 previous editions. They have won the men's team title 16 times, with a 17th looking likely given the strength in their ranks.
They boast a trio of sub-59-minute men in Benard Kibet, Charles Kipkurui Langat and Sabastian Sawe, while their next man, Daniel Simiu Ebenyo, is a 59:04 performer.
Kibet smashed his PB to clock 58:45 when winning the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in February and he went on to finish fifth in the 10,000m in Budapest last month, while Langat ran his PB of 58:53 to win in Barcelona in February.
Simiu is fresh from winning silver at the World Championships and should be high in confidence to bag another medal.
