PuraVida Sports

When Faith Kipyegon won her first Olympic 1,500 metres gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, Agnes Jebet Ngetich was in Class Seven.

Ngetich admired Kipyegon on television as she charted her own running course at Werep Primary School in Chepkorio, Elgeyo Marakwey County.

On Saturday (February 22), Ngetich will run alongside her role model – and now three-time Olympic 1,500m champion – for the first time as a star-studded cast takes on the fourth Absa Sirikwa Cross Country Championships challenge at Eldoret’s Lobo Village.

Born 24 years ago in Kinamget Tabare Village in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Ngetich burst into global prominence in January last year when she improved the 10-kilometre world record by 28 seconds, clocking 28 minutes and 46 seconds in Valencia, en route running the fastest 5km (14:13).

Ngetich then closed the year in equally dramatic fashion, running the second-fastest women’s half marathon in history, again in Valencia, clocking 63:04.

Like Kipyegon, she hopes to make a mark on the track after injury kept her out of key track dates last season, in between the two brilliant road runs, missing the Paris Olympics in the process.

Ngetich, who has had to battle family challenges including her father’s death when she was just 10, displayed track promise early, running 15:59.6 while winning the 5,000m at the Elgeyo Marakwet County schools’ championships in 2017.

But the 2023 track season has been her best so far, with personal best times recorded in the 3,000m (8:32.62, Oslo), 5,000m (14:36.70, Paris) and 10,000m (31:34.83, Budapest), with the extra motivation of a bronze at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia.

“This is the first time that I will be competing against Faith,” the Adidas athlete said of her upcoming duel with the middle distance G.O.A.T. at the Sirikwa Classic pre-meet press conference at Eldoret’s Boma Inn on Friday.

“I watched her when I was young in 2016 when she won in Rio… I was in Grade 7… I didn’t expect that I could run with her one day,” she added, maintaining that she won’t be under any pressure at Lobo Village on Saturday.

“I don’t have any pressure. I will just run my race as a build-up (to the track season). Competing with Faith is pressure for people, because she’s the queen and I’m grateful racing with her.”

After dominating the 2023 Sirikwa Classic and going on to shatter world records in the 1,500m, 5,000m and the mile, Kipyegon is back at Lobo Village hoping another season opener on the famed grounds will catapult her to more stellar performances this season, the highlight of which will be the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

“Cross country builds an athlete’s season. I started my 2023 season with the Sirikwa Classic and my season was really beautiful as I broke three world records that season. I hope this season starting with the cross country will build my season and, hopefully, when I go to Tokyo for the World Championships it will be beautiful,” she noted at Friday’s Press Conference.

Kipyegon had another brilliant season last year, highlighted by her third straight 1,500m gold at the Paris Olympics that was supplemented by a silver in the 5,000m behind compatriot Beatrice Chebet.

Chebet, a double Olympic champion from Paris (5,000m, 10,000m), had also announced her entry into Saturday’s Sirikwa Classic with her named inked in the quality, 250-strong start list for Lobo Village.

“Last season was very good, winning my third title at the Olympics and a silver medal in the 5,000m. Though there were some disappointments, I overcame them and defended my title,” Kipyegon said noting that she has to adjust between speed and endurance training as she climbs up the distances, gradually.

“When the cross country distance changed from eight to 10 kilometres, I was a little afraid… but cross country really helps in preparing for track. In 2023 I saw the changes and saw that I could balance endurance with speed. The plan this year is still the same, starting with cross country… but as years go by, we change events but at the moment I’m still doing 1,500m and 5,000m, maybe in future you will see me in the 10,000m.

“I’m looking for endurance. I can’t be running 1,500 only, but I need to run 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon in the future.”

Ngetich, meanwhile, anticipates better luck on the track this year after the injury disappointments of the last season.

“I’ll be running cross country as a build-up to the 2025 season and I’m expecting to do more on the track at the World Championships. The Sirikwa Classic is part of the build-up,” she said on Friday.

“Last year I opened the season with a 10km world record and I was expecting to go to the Olympics but, unfortunately, because of injury, I missed the Olympics… It was not easy healing, but I closed the year with the second fastest time in the half marathon, running 63 minutes, and so I’m expecting more this year.”

For Ngetich, the half marathon was a totally new proposition but she is not keen on doing more 21kms this year.

“The half marathon was a new distance for me, but then I ran my PB and the second fastest time. Now I’m back to the track and will look at the half marathon again in the future, not now…”

With the focus on the star-studded women’s field, the men also hope to have their say with 2023 World Championships 5,000m bronze medalist Jacob Krop having relocated from his training base in Japan to tackle the Sirikwa Classic, his first cross country race since 2021.

“I have been training in Japan but I’ve come to Kenya to prepare for the season. The Sirikwa Classic acts as my preparation for the track season. It has been long since I ran the cross country. The last time was 2021 at Kapsokwony… I know it will be tough race because, somehow, I’ve forgotten about cross country,” he said on Friday.

Daniel Ebenyo Simiu, who won the National Championships at the Eldoret Sports Club recently, is also in the men’s mix alongside 2023 world cross country champion Kibiwott Kandie with steeplechaser Abraham Kibiwott, the 2022 Commonwealth Champion and Olympic silver medalist last year, also looking to gain sone endurance at Lobo Village.

Another steepler in the mix is Poland’s Krystian Zalewski, the 2014 European Championships silver medalist over the barriers and water who is building up for an attempt at the Polish marathon record.

“In 2016, I was in the (Rio) Olympics for the steeplechase. I’m now preparing for military cross country championships and then go for the marathon, which is something new for me, and I’m looking at Polish national record. This (Sirikwa) is a good preparation for the marathon,” said the 35-year-old, 8:16.20 steepler.

On his first competition on Kenyan soil, he noted: “I have been in Kenya several times in Iten for training camps, but this is the first time for me competing in Kenya so it will be a new experience and will do my best.

“I know it will be very tough because in Poland its winter now, minus 10 degrees (Celcius) and it’s tough to change to the hot weather here, but I will try and keep up with the leaders and seek my best time.”

Zalewski’s marathon personal best time is 2:20:17 with Poland’s national record held at 2:07:39 by Henryk Szost from the 2012 Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan.

Besides Zalewski, among the dozen foreign entries is the Ethiopian pair of Tolosa Gemechu and Geneti Ayana, both upcoming runners eager to break into the global fold.

Ayana finished ninth in last year’s Great Ethiopian Run 10km race in a personal best 28:53 while Gemechu, a 3:42.6 runner in the 1,500m, hopes to successfully scale up at Lobo Village.

In the Sirikwa Classic women’s 10km field, the top three from the Nationals – Brillian Jepkorir, Maureen Jepkoech and Stacy Ndiwa – will also be on the starting line alongside veteran miler Winny Chebet and marathoners Visiline Jepkesio and Joyciline Jepkosgei.

Jepkosgei had a great outing at the Nationals but lost one shoe with about three kilometres to go but managed to battle for fourth behind Jepkorir, Jepkoech and Ndiwa.

Last weekend, Jepkosgei recovered to retain her Barcelona Half Marathon title in a course record and personal best 64:32, a fitting build-up to her spring attack on the London Marathon, seeking to reclaim the title she won in 2021.

Valova Silvie (Czech Republic), Florea Madalina (Romania), Loise Chekwemoi (Uganda), Martha Chemutai (Uganda) alongside Ukraine’s pair of Nyzhnyk Olga and Kaliuzhna Viktoriia are the half dozen foreign entries in the women’s senior race.

National junior champions Kevin Kiprop and Lonah Chemtai will also be hoping to add Sirikwa titles to their young collection with competition at Lobo Village starting at 9am with two-kilometre races for boys and girls, climaxing with the senior women’s and men’s 10km races at 2.25pm and 3.10pm, respectively, in this World Athletics Gold Label meeting.

The two-kilometre loops for men and women will run from 12:10pm and should produce some excitement with Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, winner over the distance at the Nationals, seeking to, yet again, command the one-lap action over, among others, Diamond League steeplechase champion Amos Serem, 2022 World Indoor 1,500m bronze medalist Abel Kipsang, 2017 World Under-18 and 2018 World Under-20 Championships gold medallist in the 1,500m George Manangoi.

Cynthia Chesebe, third in the 800m at last year’s National Championships, African Championships 800m silver medalist Lilian Odira and the 400m hurdles All-African Games champion from 2019, Vanice Kerubo Nyagisera, headline the women’s field in the 2km loop.

The challenging Lobo Village course, owned by marathon legend Ibrahim Hussein, rises to 2,119 metres above sea level with various obstacles introduced and a sprinkling station employed to cool the athletes with Eldoret temperatures expected to rise to 27 degrees Celcius.

With humidity levels at 35 percent by the time the senior races blast off, wind speeds of 31 kilometres per hour should, perhaps, mitigate the sweltering conditions.

2025 Absa Sirikwa Classic Programme:

09:00am: 13-15yrs Boys’ – 2km;

09:20am: 13-15yrs Girls’ – 2km;

10:00am: 9-12yrs Boys’ – 1km;

10:10am: 9-12yrs Girls’ – 1km;

10:40am: 5-8yrs Boys’ – 500m;

10:50am: 5-8yrs Girls’ – 500m;

12:10pm: Loop, Women – 2km;

12:20pm: Loop, Men – 2km;

13:15pm: Under-20, Women – 6km;

13:45pm: Under-20, Men – 6km;

14:25pm: Elite Women – 10km;

15:10pm: Elite Men – 10km.

makori@puravidasports.africa