Here is where the Kenyan attention will be on, in Budapest on Sunday night.
10:04pm – Men’s 800m final
Commonwealth Games champion Wycliffe Kinyamal and World silver medalist Emmanuel Wanyonyi will fly the Kenyan flag in the two-lap race.
Kinyamal has had a season of mixed fortunes, but finished the regular Diamond League season top of the pile, with 32 points from six events. He won in Monaco and had a pair of second place finishes in Doha and Rabat and was fourth two weeks ago in Xiamen.
Wanyonyi on the other end has had a pretty decent season with wins in three of the Diamond League races he has competed in. He won in Rabat, Paris and Xiamen and will look to replicate that same form in the winner take it all final in Eugene.
It will be a tough competitive list at Hayward Field in Oregon, with World Champion Marco Arop of Canada and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati also lining up.
10:39pm – Women’s 5,000m final
Beatrice Chebet will be keen to defend her Diamond Trophy title having clinched her first ever last season. She’s won three of her Diamond League events this season, earning victories in Oslo, Stockholm and Xiamen and was second in London.
She recently clinched silver at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, the same medal she earned at the venue of Sunday night’s final, during last year’s Worlds.
Compatriot Lilian Kasait, who won in Brussels, and finished behind Chebet in Oslo, will also be lining up for the race as they both battle for the Trophy.
The Ethiopian contingent will be heavy, lead by reigning 10,000m world champion Gudaf Tsegay. The Ethiopian also won the 5,000m world title last year at the same venue. Hailu Lemlem and Hailu Freweyni are the other two Ethiopians to watch in the race.
12:19am – Women’s 800m final
Recently crowned World Champion Mary Moraa will look to end her season in style with her first ever Diamond Trophy. Moraa has been in scintillating form this season and has won all her three Diamond League races, clinching victory in Rabat, Lausanne and Poland.
With high confidence from her first ever world title in Budaspest last month, the 23-year old Kenyan will be looking towards a triumphant end to her season.
It will also be a World Championship rematch against USA’s Athing Mu who she beat in Budapest, and with the American having struggled for most of the season, Moraa will rub her hands and salivate at another victorious battle.
Series leader Natoya Goule of Jamaica as well as Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson will also provide competition in what is expected to be a tough race.
Comments