Kenya’s former world champion Timothy Cheruiyot’s campaign was at sixes and sevens, clashing with a pacemaker and bumping into an opponent to allow Norwegian rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen cruise to victory in the season-ending 1,500 metres race at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday night.

At the bell, Kenyan pacemaker Boaz Kiprugut – who had led the pack past 800m in 1:52 after Frenchman Mounir Akbache paced 400m at 56.0 – failed to ease off seamlessly, blocking the path of both the Norwegian and Cheruiyot.

There was more drama with about 200m to go when American Olympic bronze medalist Yared Nuguse stumbled, again impeding Cheruiyot and virtually handing Ingebrigtsen the advantage on the home straight.

The Norwegian, on cruise control, crossed the finish line in three minutes, 30.37 seconds with Cheruiyot second in 3:30.93, beating USA’s Olympic champion Cole Hocker (3:30.94) by the thickness of a vest in a photo-finish.

Cheruiyot, 28, world champion in 2019 (Doha), was livid, disappointed by the uninvited gremlins, saying he knew he had the season-ending race all sewn up.

He then announced that he would go up the distance and shift focus to the 5,000m after a stellar decade in the metric mile.

“I was well-prepared, I was so confident and I was expecting to win today, but nonetheless the season is over and I’m happy that my body is responding well,” Cheruiyot, also Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo 2020 and the 11th fastest all-time (3:28.28), said.

He quickly added that he has lost motivation in the 1,500m after being in the game for long, and would now contemplate the 5,000m next season.

“I’ve been in the 1,500m for long and, maybe, next year I will go up to the 5,000m. I’ve been running 1,500m for the last nine years, and so next year I’ll try out both the 5,000m and 1,500m.

Just how would “Timo” fair in the 12-and-a-half-laps race?

It’s a question I put to Ingebrigtsen, Cheruiyot’s long-time rival.

“I think it’s gonna be difficult for him,” the 23-year-old Norwegian, who won gold in the 1,500m in Tokyo and in the 5,000m in Paris last month, said after taking a deep sigh.

“Obviously the 5,000m is a very tough race with very strong runners, and right now the level is very good, but Timothy is a good racer and has been a good rival and my competitor for many, many years and so I look forward to competing with him and we’ll see if he can make it.”

Cheruiyot’s coach Bernard Ouma missed his flight to Brussels for this weekend’s finals because of the airports strike in Nairobi, but reacting to his protégé’s scaling up, he confirmed the move saying it would be “gradual.”

“It will be a gradual transition… we prefer gradual transition, from the 1,500m to the 3,000m, then 5,000m and 10,000m,” he told ‘Pura Vida Sports Africa’ on phone from Nairobi.

“Cheruiyot has been consistently making it to the Kenyan team in the 1,500m for 10 years, since 2014, and sometimes it gets a bit boring,” Ouma added.

Meanwhile, Ingebrigtsen, who ran a world lead 3:26.73 – just 0.73 seconds outside Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record 3:26.00 and the fourth fastest time, all-time after Guerrouj, USA’s Kenya-born Bernard Lagat (3:26.24) and Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop (3:36.69) – said the Moroccan’s world record, that has stood for 26 years, is “beatable.”

El Guerrouj also holds the Brussels meet record at 3:26.14 from 2001 in a race that also saw Lagat became the second-fastest athlete over the distance with his 3:26.24.

“Maybe next year,” the Norwegian added, confidently.

Does Ingebrigtsen plan to run in Nairobi, at the Kip Keino Classic, any time soon?

“I would like to compete throughout the world. Kenya and East Africa has a great culture of running and are strong in competition, and I’m very lucky to meet the strong athletes from Kenya at events throughout the world,” he reacted.

“But where and when (to compete in Africa) I don’t know.”

Results from the men’s 1,500m final at the Memorial Van Damme Diamond League meeting at the King Boudeuin Stadium in Brussels:

1.     Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) 3:30.37

2.     Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya) 3:30.93

3.     Cole Hocker (USA) 3:30.94

4.     Azeddine Habz (France) 3:31.97

5.     Jochem Vermeulen (Belgium) 3:32.15

6.     Yared Nuguse (USA) 3:32.30

7.     Reynold Cheruiyot (Kenya) 3:32.50

8.     Narve Gilje Nordas (Norway) 3:33.02

9.     Brian Komen (Kenya) 3:32.21

10.  Oliver Hoare (Australia) 3:34.13

11.  Elliot Giles (Great Britain) 3:34.76

Fridays Diamond League winners:

Women:
100m: Julien Alfred
400m: Marileidy Paulino
800m: Mary Moraa
High jump: Yaroslava Mahuchikh
Triple jump: Leyanis Perez Hernandez
Discus: Valarie Allman
Shot put: Sarah Mitton

Men:
100m: Ackeem Blake
110m hurdles: Sasha Zhoya
400m: Charles Dobson
1,500m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen
3,000m: Amos Serem
5,000m: Berihu Aregawi
Pole vault: Mondo Duplantis
Discus: Matthew Denny
Long jump: Tajay Gayle