NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 27 – Brimin Kipkorir returned to this year’s Nairobi Standard Chartered Marathon to reclaim the title he won in 2017, winning the men’s race in 2 Hours, 10 Minutes and 42 Seconds on Sunday morning.

In the corresponding women’s race, Purity Jebichii, the winner of the 2015 Half Marathon at the same event, clinched the full marathon title in 2 Hours, 33 Minutes, 30 Minutes flooring Chemtai Rionotukei to second place in 2:33:03 as Shelmith Muriuki clocked 2:34:39 for third.

Both Kipkorir and Jebichii walked home with Sh2 million prize money that was increased this year from the previous Sh1.5 million.

Kipkorir finished ahead of Stephen Kipchirchir who was second 2 Hours, 11 Minutes, 53 Seconds while Victor Serem settled for third in 2 Hours, 12 Minutes, 00 Seconds.

“I did not expect to win this year’s race but I was certain of making it to the podium. I won the Half Marathon in 2015 and it is my joy to achieve my goal. I will go discuss with my coach and see which race I will participate,” women’s winner in full marathon, Jebichii said after the race.

In the half marathon, Andrew Nyamwai dominated the men’s race 1 Hour, 01 Minutes, 51 Seconds while the women’s race went to Sheila Chepkirui.

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 27 – Valary Aiyabei lived up to expectations at the 2019 Frankfurt Marathon, returning an amazing time of 2 Hours, 19 Minutes, 09 Seconds to become the first woman to break sub 2:20 in the race on Sunday.

The Kenyan set off at 2:12 pace and inevitably slowed but she still managed to floor Ethiopians and reclaim the title for Kenya in the women’s race that was last won by Vivian Cheruiyot in 2017.

It is also the fifth fastest time this year in the world. The second was Ethiopian Megertu Kebede in 2:21:10 while compatriot and defending champion Meskerem Assefa (Ethiopia) came in third clocking 2:22:11.

“The goal was to lower my personal best,” said Aiyabei, who had come up with a best time of 2:20:53. Despite their furious beginning, attacking the world record was not an issue for them. “It’s not easy to walk alone. I had to fight through it.”

The 28-year-old Aiyabei provided a breathtaking pace from the start, always well ahead of her rivals.

In the first 10 kilometers, Aiyabei put in 31:44 minutes and thus significantly below world record speed. Although her husband and pacemaker Kenneth Tarus got off the stomach after just 15 kilometers, she made a terrific race on the Frankfurt track.

At the half marathon she passed after 67:42 minutes. Aiyabei had to put up with the pace a bit, but was able to pull through her race well and realize in 2:19:10 hours, the first Frankfurt women’s time under 2:20. The course record of 2:20:36, which this year’s third Meskerem Assefa had achieved in the previous year, improved it by 1:26 minutes.

Behind the winner ran with respect distance a high-class group, which aimed for a long time also for a result under 2:20 hours.

In the end, the Ethiopian Megertu Kebede took second place in a personal best of 2:21:10. The defending champion and last year’s winner Assefa crashed a few meters before the finish on the red carpet and was in 2:22:14 third ahead of the 10,000-meter European champion Lonah Salpeter (Israel) in 2:23:11.

With these outstanding results, the Frankfurt race improved by one place in seventh place in the list of the fastest women’s city marathon races (average of the fastest ten times).

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MONTREAL, Canada, Oct 29 – The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said on Monday its compliance arm will review allegations that Russia manipulated key data at the centre of its state-sponsored doping scandal by the end of November.

In a statement, WADA said it had received responses from Russian authorities to a series of “detailed and technical questions” by the agency’s Intelligence and Investigations Department.

Russia handed over thousands of files and samples from its Moscow anti-doping laboratory in January, a key condition for its reinstatement by WADA in 2018.

However, last month it emerged that some of the files had been manipulated, raising the prospect of a fresh suspension of Russian athletes.

Last week, Russia’s anti-doping chief, Yuri Ganus, said he expected the country to be banned from next year’s Tokyo Olympics and the next Winter Olympics, blaming unnamed Russian officials for doctoring the data handed over to WADA.

WADA said on Monday that Russia’s responses to its queries would be reported to the agency’s Compliance Review Committee (CRC), which would in turn decide whether to recommend action against Russia.

WADA said while no “fixed timeline” could be given for the process, the CRC would likely consider the investigation team’s findings “before the end of November.”

WADA’s executive committee would then meet “as soon as possible” thereafter to discuss what action to take.

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ROME, Italy, Oct 31 – Kenyans James Kibet, Joel Maina Mwangi, Paul Tiongik and James Mburugu are the top names at the 12th edition of the Corsa dei Santi in Rome, an IAAF Bronze Label 10 km road race scheduled for Friday.

Kibet clocked his PB of 13:11.87 in the 5000m on the track at Berlin’s ISTAF meeting in 2017 and won the Campaccio IAAF Cross Country Permit race in January 2018.

He also holds solid career best times over different distances including 7:43.13 in the 3000m and 28:23.31 in the 10,000m.

Tiongik won the Italian Cross Country Club Championships in Venaria Reale near Turin last March and finished fourth at the Stramilano Half Marathon in 1:02:07. Last October he clocked his half marathon PB of 1:01:46 in Zagreb.

Mburugu clocked two 1:02 half marathon races this year with 1:01:37 in Jesolo and 1:01:35 in Cremona.

The top Italian name is Giuseppe Gerratana, the European Under 23 silver medallist in the 3000m steeplechase in 2013.

Clementine Mukandanga will be bidding to win the Corsa dei Santi 10 km women’s race for the second consecutive year. The Rwandan clocked a PB of 2:30:59 at the Florence Marathon in 2018 and finished sixth at the All-African Games in 2015 in the 10,000m.

The Kenyan contingent is led by Ivyne Lagat and Lenah Jerotich.

Lagat finished eighth at the Stramilano Half Marathon last March and won the Aosta Half Marathon in 1:12:24 ahead of Mukandanga. Lagat clocked 1:11:23 in the 2016 Cardiff Half Marathon.

The top Italian name is Giovanna Epis, who recently set her half marathon PB of 1:11:44 in Valencia last week and dipped under 2:30 when she finished sixth in 2:29:11 at the Rotterdam Marathon in April.

No less than 7000 runners will take part at the Corsa dei Santi, which starts from Via della Conciliazione near St. Peters Square in Rome. Two-time world long jump world champion and Olympic silver medallist Fiona May will be among the special guests.

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 1 – Defending champion Mary Keitany is back in the Big Apple to chase more glory at the New York City Marathon to run on Sunday, an IAAF Gold Label road race.

Kenya’s Keitany goes in search of her fifth title in New York in six years, having powered to victory last year in 2:22:48 to add to her wins in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

With calm, cool and sunny conditions forecast for Sunday, there’s every chance she could take down Margaret Okayo’s course record of 2:22:31.

The 37-year-old clocked 1:07:58 to finish fourth at the Great North Run in September on her last outing, and history has shown that when the Kenyan arrives in New York at full fitness, she is incredibly difficult to beat. She clocked 2:20:58 to finish fifth in her most recent marathon in London back in April.

“I trained well so I’m ready to tackle this race,” Keitany said at the pre-race press conference on Thursday. “I’m not saying I am going to run a good time but I’m ready to defend my title. I’ll run my own race.”

In terms of her overall wins, Keitany said she is keen to close the gap on Norway’s Grete Waitz, who stands alone with nine victories in this race. Her chief threat is likely to come from Ethiopia’s Ruti Aga, who holds the second fastest PB in the race with 2:18:34.

The 25-year-old was a surprise entrant in the marathon at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha in late September given she had signed up for New York several months ago, but in hot conditions she dropped out before the 15km mark.

She ran her PB to finish second at the Berlin Marathon last year and earlier this year she claimed her first Abbott World Marathon Major, clocking 2:20:40 in Tokyo.

An intriguing debutante is Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei, the 25-year-old who holds the half marathon world record at 1:04:51, which she set in Prague in 2017.

Though this will be her first try at this distance, she has some experience on the rolling hills of Central Park, having taken victory at the New York City Half Marathon in March in 1:10:06.

She also had a taste of being part of a big city marathon when she acted as a pacemaker at the London Marathon earlier this year.

There is unlikely to be a repeat of the US winner we saw in 2017, when Shalane Flanagan outran Keitany in the closing miles through Central Park, but Sara Hall and Desiree Linden appear to hold the best chance of a podium finish for the home contingent.

Hall clocked a huge PB of 2:22:16 in Berlin in September while Linden, last year’s Boston Marathon champion, is a consistent world-class performer who rarely runs a bad race.

Australia’s Sinead Diver is another worthy of huge respect. The Irish-born athlete smashed her personal best to clock 2:24:11 in London earlier this year and showed her preparations have gone well with a 25-second PB in the world 10,000m final in Doha five weeks ago, in which she finished 14th.

The men’s race looks a wide-open affair, with Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa trying to complete a swift double over the distance, having taken gold in the marathon at the World Championships in Doha just four weeks ago.

The 29-year-old has a PB of 2:04:45 that dates back to 2013, and while that may not be world-beating in the current marathon climate, in races like this – with a hilly course and no pacemakers – Desisa is a formidable player.

He clocked 2:05:59 to win here last year and in April he finished a close second at the Boston Marathon, just two seconds behind winner Lawrence Cherono.

“After Doha I tried to take recovery training,” said Desisa. “The marathon is not easy but I said I would see [how] my body [was] and if it’s okay. Winning New York before changed my life, changed my future. I don’t know what will happen but I will try my best.”

Geoffrey Kamworor, the 2017 champion, is also back and the Kenyan will be keen to go one better than his runner-up finish last year.

He arrives off the back of a stunning preparation, having set the half marathon world record at 58:01 in Copenhagen back in September.

On Thursday he confirmed preparations went well at his base in Kaptagat, where he has been training alongside his close friend and mentor Eliud Kipchoge. “I did what I normally do to run a marathon,” he said. “I think I’m ready.”

Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata looks primed to eventually take victory at a Marathon Major, and this may present an ideal opportunity for the 23-year-old, who has a best of 2:04:49.

Tamirat Tola is another who can’t be discounted, a fourth-place finisher here last year who finished sixth in London back in May, clocking 2:06:57. He clocked 59:13 for the half marathon to finish second behind Mo Farah at the Great North Run in September.

US athletes Abdi Abdirahman and Jared Ward lead the home contenders, while Germany’s Arne Gabius and Dutch athlete Michel Butter will lead the European charge. Training partners Brett Robinson and Jack Rayner will fly the flag for Australia.

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 3 – Geoffrey Kamworor sprinted away from compatriot Albert Korir in the final three kilometres of the race to clinch his second New York Marathon in 2hrs, 08mins and 13 seconds with his compatriot coming in second 15 seconds later.

At the finish line, the World Half Marathon specialist was congratulated by world record holder Eliud Kipchoge who is still basking in the glory of becoming the first man to ever run the marathon under two hours, having achieved the feat at last month’s Ineos Challenge.

Kamworor, champion in New York in 2017 stuck with the leading pack for most of the race and never pushed upfront until when it was just him and Korir up the field.

He kicked upfield at the 39km mark, showing off his superb endurance with Korir failing in his bid to catch up.

Kamworor all along the race tucked just within the leading pack and the pacemakers, choosing carefully when to make his move as he also weighed in on his opponent’s strength.

Kamworor, Korir and Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola had broken away from the leading pack at the 34km mark. Tola, who had looked comfortable throughout, quickly fell away however, leaving Kamworor and Korir to battle it out.

With two kilometres left and Korir seemingly struggling to keep up with the pace, Kamworor pounced and made his move and his compatriot could not respond to the injection in pace.

Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata set his stall out early, clocking a swift 5:02 uphill mile to start the race. A series of surges followed over the miles that followed, but none was decisive and a leading group of 18 athletes passed 10km in 30:32.

The first major casualty came after mile seven, when defending champion Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia stepped off the course, the race coming just 29 days after he took gold in the marathon at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.

Kitata continued to inject surges and ran 30 to 40 metres ahead of the pack as he approached halfway, which was reached in 1:04:49.

But by then the pack had re-formed, with 14 athletes running together at the front. A strong move followed shortly before 15 miles from Australia’s Brett Robinson, who built a 10-second lead as the runners traversed the Queensboro Bridge.

As they approached Manhattan the pack reeled him in, and a dozen athletes ran up First Avenue together with all the major players keeping their powder dry for the final stages.

There were still 12 athletes in the lead pack as 30km was reached in 1:32:25. By 35km that pack was reduced to five: Kamworor, Kitata, Albert Korir, Girma Bekele Gebre and Tamirat Tola.

Tola dropped a 4:36 mile with five miles to run to make Kitata the first casualty in the group, and only with three miles to go did Kamworor first show his hand, his 4:40 mile over the rolling hills of Central Park pulling him six seconds clear with two miles to run.

He followed that up with a 4:31 mile and by then the damage was done, Kamworor well on his way to reclaiming the title he first won in 2017.

He hit the finish in 2:08:13, 23 seconds clear of Kenyan compatriot Korir, who in turn was two seconds clear of Gebre.

The third-placed finisher provided one of the upsets of the day given the Ethiopian has no agent or shoe sponsor and had lined up at a different start line to the elites after entering the event in the open category. Tola claimed fourth in 2:09:20 with Kitata taking fifth in 2:10:39.

“I was ready for anything,” said Kamroror. “The last few years the race went so fast and I just stuck with the others (this time) and at 24 miles I decided it was time to go. I was feeling strong and I had no problem throughout the race. It was a good one for me.”

-Additional reporting courtesy IAAF 

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ISTANBUL, Turkey, Nov 4 – Daniel Kibet had been recruited as a pacemaker for the Istanbul Marathon, but the Kenyan was clearly inspired by the IAAF Gold Label road race’s motto – ‘Don’t stop, run!’ – and stayed on to win the event in a course record of 2:09:44 on Sunday.

One of three pacemakers for the lead pack, Kibet led a group of 14 men through 10km in 30:14 and all but one of those were still in the pack as they reached the half-way point in 1:04:12, well on schedule to break the course record of 2:09:57.

Defending champion and course record-holder Felix Kimutai and Turkey’s two-time European 10,000m champion Polat Kemboi Arikan were also in the lead group, but Arikan could only keep up the pace for another few kilometres before drifting away from the leaders at about 27km.

Kibet, meanwhile, still looked comfortable at the front and reached 30km – the point at which he was due to drop out – in 1:31:29.

While Kibet continued to run, fellow pacemaker Moses Kemei exited the race then, leaving four other athletes – Peter Ndorobo, Yitayal Atnafu, Cosmas Birech and Kimutai – in contention.

Birech was the first of that quintet to fade with the remaining four hitting the 40km mark in 2:02:53, still inside course record pace.

Kimutai was the next to fall behind, doing so quite quickly as the lead pack entered Gulhane Park with 2:06 on the clock.

Less than a minute later, Kibet put in a decisive surge and broke up the front trio. He forged on ahead and went on to win in 2:09:44, taking 13 seconds off Kimutai’s course record.

Atnafu held on for second place in 2:09:57 with Ndorobo finishing third in 2:10:09, 41 seconds ahead of Kimutai.

Kibet’s winning time was some way short of the 2:06:49 PB he set in Seville earlier this year, but it comes just six weeks after his 2:06:52 clocking in Buenos Aires and is his first victory over the classic distance.

-Women’s race 

Meanwhile, the course record of 2:18:35 – set last year by world champion Ruth Chepngetich – was never under threat in the women’s race, but it played out in similar fashion to the men’s contest with eventual winner Hirut Tibebu breaking away in the final few kilometres.

The opening pace was relatively swift with the lead group of seven women passing 10km in 33:50, which is 2:22:45 pace – a time that only one woman in the field, Visiline Jepkesho, had ever bettered.

But Jepkesho, a 2:21:37 performer at best who had clocked 2:22:40 to finish second in Istanbul in 2017, was already struggling to stay with the lead pack, perhaps having not yet fully recovered from contesting the World Championships marathon in Doha five weeks ago.

Tibebu, however, was always among the leaders and they passed through the half-way point in 1:11:38, putting them on pace for a finishing time just outside 2:23.

The Ethiopian had four other women for company – compatriots Tigist Abayechew and Sifan Melaku plus Kenyan duo Maurine Chepkemoi and Angela Tanui – as she reached 30km in 1:41:53.

Melaku and Tanui started to drift back over the next few kilometres and were soon followed by Chepkemoi and Abayechew, leaving Tibebu out in front alone. The 24-year-old pressed on unopposed to win in 2:23:40.

Further back, Abayechew and Chepkemoi were locked in their own battle for the other two podium spots with Abayechew managing to hold off the Kenyan to take second place, 2:24:15 to Chepkemoi’s 2:24:16.

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BEIJING, China, Nov 4 – Kenya’s duo of Mathews Kisorio and Marius Kimutai were in good form at the Beijing and Hanghzou Marathons respectively this weekend, setting new course records in the Chinese cities.

In Beijing, Kisorio broke away in the final 10 kilometres to rewrite the men’s course record at the IAAF Gold Label road race.

The 30-year-old clocked 2:07:06 to earn his second victory over the classic distance, knocking 10 seconds off the course record set six years ago by Ethiopia’s 2013 world bronze medallist Tadese Tola.

“It is my first time to run in Beijing and I am very happy to win and to break the course record,” said Kisorio, who set his PB of 2:04:53 last year in Valencia. “The weather was fantastic. I expect to come to Beijing again next year.”

Starting under cloudy and drizzling skies with the temperature ranging from 7-10C, the race was fast from the outset. Four runners – Bazu Worku of Ethiopia, Kisorio and his compatriots Emmanuel Rutto and Solomon Kirwa Yego – led the race to 25km.

Worku, a three-time winner of the Houston Marathon, was the first to fade away after 28km, while 36-year-old Rutto quit the title contest after 30km. After another two kilometres, Kisorio broke away from Yego to move into a sole lead.

The 2017 Daegu Marathon winner was well on track to break the course record at 35km, reached in 1:45:10, and kept pushing ahead before hit the line in 2:07:06. Yego trailed by more than two minutes to finish second in 2:09:45. Rutto clocked 2:10:15 to finish third.

-Kimutai triumphs in Hangzhou

In Hangzhou, Pre-race favourite Kimutai lived up to expectations as he improved the course record by nearly half a minute.

The 26-year-old outraced compatriot Stanley Bett in the last kilometre of the race to become the first Bahraini winner in the 33-year history of the event, clocking 2:10:05.

It was Kimutai’s second victory in China this year, having won in Taiyuan in September with 2:09:43. It was also the sixth career marathon title for the 2:05:47 performer, following victories in Rotterdam, Danzhou, Ljubljana and Rennes since debuting over the distance in 2013.

The patient Kimutai bided his time in a crowded leading group in the early stages, passing 10km in 30:52 and 20km in 1:02:31.

The 32-year-old Bett finish second with a personal best of 2:10:12, also finishing inside the course record of 2:10:33 set two years ago by Azmeraw Bekele of Ethiopia. Fellow Kenyan Douglas Kimeli, the runner-up in Hangzhou last year, finished third in 2:11:01, improving his PB by five seconds.

Agnes Jeruto Barsosio of Kenya also confirmed her favourite status in the women’s race, but in a more overwhelming way compared with Kimutai.

The 37-year-old, who owns a PB of 2:20:59 from the 2017 Paris Marathon, built up a comfortable lead soon after the gun and never met any real threat all the way to the finish.

Her winning mark of 2:25:20 was 10 seconds shy of the course record set by Ethiopia’s Hirut Tibebu last year.

Alice Jepkemboi Kimutai, winner of the 2018 Taiyuan Marathon and the 12th-place finisher in Hangzhou last year, clocked a lifetime best of 2:28:14 to take second place. Priscilla Chepatiy, winner of last year’s Wuxi Marathon, clocked 2:36:55 to complete a Kenyan podium sweep.

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TOKYO, Japan, Nov 5 – Japanese athletics officials on Tuesday slammed the decision to move the 2020 Olympic marathon and race-walking events from Tokyo to Sapporo, saying the move did not put competitor interests first.

The IOC ordered the move last month after seeing athletes struggle to cope with hot and humid conditions at the world championships in Doha in September.

“The IOC was shocked by what we saw in Doha in very similar conditions in terms of temperature and humidity to what’s expected here in Tokyo,” John Coates, head of the body’s coordination commission, said at the time of the announcement.

The IOC had a responsibility “to always put the health of athletes first”, he said.

The announcement caught Tokyo 2020 organisers by surprise, and on Tuesday Kazunori Asaba — training chief of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) — told reporters it should never have been made.

“It’s like the athletes who had been training for many years to climb Everest were told just nine months before they would go to a different mountain,” he said.

The decision “does not put athletes first in a real sense”, he added. “From the perspective of training… ‘athletes first’ means not wasting their efforts.”

Dozens of competitors were affected or needed medical attention as hot and humid conditions took their toll in the ultra-distance events at the Doha world championships.

JAAF marathon director Tadasu Kawano disagreed, however, saying the athletes in Doha did not complain and tried their best.

“The athletes are not joining competitions to be protected,” he said.

“It is their mission to make efforts within the rules that are already set and compete by manifesting superhuman abilities.”

The Tokyo government last week accepted the IOC decision, saying it was effectively out of their hands.

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SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain, Nov 7 – National Olympic Committee of Kenya president Paul Tergat received an Honorary Achilles Prize from the International Athletics Film Festival (FICA) in the Spanish city of San Sebastian yesterday.

The five-time World Cross Country champion as well as former 10,000m and marathon world record holder was a popular figure in this part of Spain during his competitive career.

The reception he received when he came on stage at the Teatro Principal showed that his stature had not dimmed with the local athletics fans.

Now 50, and a member of the International Olympic Committee, the Kenyan distance running icon received a Honorary Achilles Prize from the organisers, following in the footsteps of Bob Beamon 12 months ago in relation to his international appeal, for his contribution to the sport.

“It’s a big honour to be recognised in this way and this honour is very special to me,” commented Tergat.

“I hope this type of event (FICA) will continue for many years. To see the film of my cross country victories, as well as my defeats on the track at the Olympics, brings it all back to me even though it was 20 years ago, and more. But it’s important to keep these memories for our children and grandchildren.

-Reception in Spain

“I have competed all over the world, but I remember well the reception I always got in Spain. The people here were always very warm and welcoming,” he added, clearly delighted but humbled by accolade and the accompanying applause.

In addition to his trophy, Tergat was also presented with a ceremonial inscribed Basque beret – a txapela – a traditional gift in the area.

His presentation, with Tergat receiving his trophy from Spanish athletics federation president and IAAF Council Member Raul Chapado, followed a two-minute visual review of his greatest races on what was deemed ‘IAAF Day’ at the Festival.

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PARIS, France, Nov 7 – The IAAF has dropped the 200 metres, 3,000m steeplechase, triple jump and discus from its list of “core” disciplines at Diamond League meetings in 2020.

The International Association of Athletics Associations said its decision was based on online research in China, France, South Africa and the United States and post-event surveys in Belgium, Britain and Switzerland.

It said the aim was to reduce the length of the Diamond League meetings to fit a 90-minute international broadcast window.

There will be 12 disciplines staged at each of the 15 Diamond League meetings with the season beginning in Doha on April 17.

The 200m will in fact still be in the programme at 10 of the 15 Diamond League meetings and the discus and the triple jump will be contested at two meetings.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe said he understood the “disappointment” of athletes in the disciplines not included in the 2020 Diamond League season, but explained: “Our objective is to create a faster-paced, more exciting global league that will be the showcase for our sport. A league that broadcasters want to show and fans want to watch.”

World 200m champion Noah Lyles tweeted: “Wow, no 200m” and world triple jump champion Will Claye responded with “No more triple jump??”

Triple jump, discus and the 3,000m steeplechase ranked “towards the bottom” in the research conducted, the IAAF said in a statement.

The 200m was omitted from the core list as organisers felt its inclusion alongside the 100m meant the schedule would be “too congested, particularly in an Olympic Games year”.

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 8 – Kenya’s world reigning 3,000 metres steeplechase champions Conseslus Kipruto and Beatrice Chepkoech say the decision to remove their race from the “core” events in the 2020 Diamond League could hold back their career.

World record-holder Chepkoech, who won the Diamond League for the second time this season and claimed her first world title in Doha, said the move came as a complete surprise.

“It came as a total shocker for me when I heard that the women’s steeplechase will not feature in the calendar next season,” she told AFP.

“This is the time when I feel I am at the top of my running career.

“But it will come to nothing if I am not able to compete at the Diamond League, which I consider as the most lucrative competition and helps us to develop into well-rounded athletes.”

Two-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist Kipruto says the race’s omission will hit the development of Kenyan athletics.

“I’m so disappointed that the IAAF has taken such a drastic step to scrap the 3,000m steeplechase from the Diamond League,” said Kipruto, who stretched Kenya’s world championship winning streak in the event to 31 years when he won in Doha in September.

“The 3,000m steeplechase has made me what I have become and many Kenyan youngsters have been motivated to take up running as a career.”

Athletics Kenya (AK) has however defended the IAAF decision, saying Kenyan athletes will still have high-quality meetings to choose from in 2020 with good earning potential.

“The 3,000m steeplechase will also feature strongly in the (African) continental tour which will be announced later after Confederation of African Athletics council approval,” AK said in a statement.

The International Association of Athletics Federation announced on Thursday that the steeplechase, discus throw, triple jump and the 200m will not be contested in the Diamond League as it shortens the programme to allow for a 90-minute international broadcast window.

“Our objective is to create a faster-paced, more exciting global league that will be the showcase for our sport. A league that broadcasters want to show and fans want to watch,” said IAAF President Sebastian Coe.

The IAAF said the steeplechase would still be run at the meetings in Rome, Oslo and Doha, but will neither be broadcast nor count towards the overall Diamond League prize money.

Earlier this year, the IAAF said it would be scrapping the 10,000m and 5,000m from the Diamond League, with the 3,000m being the longest distance event.

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NDAKAINI, Kenya, Nov 9 – Ngong based athlete George Nyagetari clinched the 16th edition of the Ndakaini Half Marathon on his debut after clocking a time of 1:10:32 in the 21-kilometer race on Saturday.

Speaking after the race, Nyagetari said he was happy with today’s victory, adding that he will now focus his attention on the remainder of the season.

“It was a tough race, but I have prepared myself for this kind of terrain. I am delighted to have the victory on my first outing here and look forward to the remainder of the year,” he said.

The women category was won by Rebecca Wanjiru from Nyadarua who clocked 1:45:28 while the first and second runner-up registered 1:56:58 and 1:59:05 respectively.

The 10-kilometer race was won by Peter Wahome and Evalyne Kamau while the 5 kilometer race was won by Johnson Mbugua and Faith Kyala.

In the subsequent 10KMs corporate race, Timaflor were winners with a combined 31 points while the Kenya Forest Service team came in second as the Citizen TV team finished third.

The annual Ndakaini Half Marathon which is now in its 16th year was started under the auspices of the Ndakaini Dam Environment Conservation Association (NDEKA) with a purpose of raising funds towards conserving Ndakaini Dam’s catchment area.

The event features the challenging 21km race, the scenic 10km course and the 5km family fun run.

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LILLE, France, Nov 11 – Kenya’s Robert Keter upstaged a quality field to win the Urban Trail Lille 5km road race over the weekend, taking seven seconds off the world record with his winning time of 13:22.

While organisers had hoped that Lille’s flat course would lend itself to a world record, many expected the likes of world U20 5000m silver medallist Stanley Waithaka, world U20 cross-country champion Milkesa Mengesha and world indoor 3000m finalist Davis Kiplangat to challenge the mark of 13:29.

No one, however, expected the unheralded Keter to sprint away from the field in the closing stages to triumph in a world record time.

Within the first five minutes a lead pack of 10 men, two of whom were pacemakers, had broken away. The group began to stretch out as they approached the half-way point after running the perimeter of Parc Jean-Baptiste Lebas.

Keter made his way to the front before the second pacemaker dropped out, but Waithaka, Kiplangat and 2014 Youth Olympic champion Gilbert Kwemoi were all close behind. Those four men began to pull away from the other athletes in the lead pack with less than a mile left to run.

There was a relatively tight turn at 4km as they looped back on to the Boulevard de la Liberte, but Keter got there first and started to up the pace for the final kilometre.

He continued to pull away from his three compatriots and they were unable to match Keter’s finishing pace.

Keter turned into the Place de la Republique with a clear lead and crossed the finish line in 13:22. Kwemoi, Waithaka and Kiplangat followed a few seconds later, finishing in that order, all with an official time of 13:28 – one second inside the existing world record.

“I’m very, very happy,” said Keter. “The race was great, it was my first 5km road race.”

Mercy Jerop, just 17 years of age, made it a Kenyan double, winning the women’s race in 16:21. France’s Fanny Pruvost, 23 years Jerop’s senior, was a distant second in 16:47.

The 5km road distance was introduced as an official world record event in November 2017, with the inaugural record to be recognised after 1 January 2018 if the performances were equal to or better than 13:10 for men and 14:45 for women.

If no such performances were achieved in 2018, the best performances of 2018 (13:30 by Bernard Kibet and 14:48 by Caroline Kipkurui) would be recognised on 1 January 2019.

Seven weeks into 2019, Julien Wanders and Sifan Hassan bettered those marks in Monaco by clocking 13:29 and 14:44, times that have since been ratified as world records. Two months later, Edward Cheserek equalled Wanders’ mark at the Carlsbad 5000.

Many athletes, however, have gone quicker than 13:22 before the 5km became an official world record event. The fastest time ever recorded for the distance remains Sammy Kipketer’s 13:00 clocking in Carlsbad in 2000.

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 11 – World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has made it into the five-man shortlist for the 2019 IAAF Male Athlete of the Year award alongside Uganda’s 10,000m world champion Joshua Cheptegei.

Kipchoge had been in the initial list alongside world 15000m champion Timothy Cheruiyot who has unfortunately not mad it to the penultimate shortlist.

He will look to win the IAAF top award for a second consecutive time alongside Cheptegei, USA’s pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, American sprinter Noah Lyles and Norwegian 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm.

Kipchoge set the world record in Berlin last year, leading to his award at the end of the season.

This year, he has only participated in two races, the London Marathon which he successfully clinched as well as the historic Ineos 159 challenge in Austria where he became the first man to run a marathon under two hours.

A three-way vote decided the final shortlist of five, whittled down from the initial 11.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via our social media platforms. The Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.

The male and female World Athletes of the Year will be announced at the World Athletics Awards 2019 to be staged in Monaco on November 23.

Top five shortlist

Joshua Cheptegei (UGA)

– won world cross-country title in Aarhus

– won world 10,000m title in a world-leading 26:48.36

– won Diamond League 5000m title

Sam Kendricks (USA)

– won world pole vault title

– cleared a world-leading 6.06m to win the US title

– won 12 of his 17 outdoor competitions, including the Diamond League final

Eliud Kipchoge (KEN)

– won London Marathon in a course record of 2:02:37

– ran 1:59:40.2 for 42.195km in Vienna

Noah Lyles (USA)

– won world 200m and 4x100m titles

– ran a world-leading 19.50 in Lausanne to move to fourth on the world all-time list

– won Diamond League titles at 100m and 200m

Karsten Warholm (NOR)

– won the world 400m hurdles title

– undefeated indoors and outdoors at all distances, including at the Diamond League final and the European Indoor Championships

– clocked world-leading 46.92, the second-fastest time in history

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LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Nov 11 – Disgraced running coach Alberto Salazar has lodged an appeal against a four-year ban for doping offences, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced on Monday.

Jeffrey Brown, a Texas endocrinologist who treated many of Salazar’s athletes at Nike’s Oregon Project training hub in Portland, has also appealed against his suspension.

CAS said it has “registered the appeals” against decisions rendered by the American Arbitration Association, North American Court of Arbitration for Sport Panel “in which they were found to have committed anti-doping rule violations and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility.”

CAS said two arbitration procedures had been opened and both men had requested more time to prepare their case.

“At this stage, it appears that the hearings in these two matters are unlikely to take place before March 2020,” said CAS.

Salazar’s doping offences include trafficking testosterone, tampering with the doping control process, and administering illicit infusions of the fat-burning substance, L-carnitine.

He denies any wrongdoing.

Last month Nike, which backed Salazar after his suspension by the US Anti-Doping Agency announced it was shutting down the Oregon Project.

Mark Parker, who at the time was Nike chief executive but has since stepped aside, said when Salazar’s ban was announced that the company would still support the coach, best known for coaching Britain’s four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah, in his appeal.

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 12 – Former half-marathon world record holder Abraham Kiptum has been slapped with a four-year doping ban after irregularities that showed up on his Athletes’ Biological Passport (ABP), which is used to track potential doping.

The decision was reached at the by Athletes Integrity Unit after Kiptum failed to explain the inconsistencies in his ABP with samples collected from 13 October to 25 December 2018.

Kiptum broke the world record in October 2018 at the Valencia Half Marathon clocking 58 minutes and 18 seconds, improving Ethiopia’s Zersenay Tadese’s time set in 2020 by 10 seconds.

Kiptum had earlier been suspended by the AIU pending completion of investigations and a chance for him to defend himself.

Consequently with the ban, all the proceeds that he earned from October 13 2018, including his half marathon world record and Valencia title as well as the prize monies that arose from his wins have been nullified.

In it’s findings, the AIU stated;

“In the automated analysis by the adaptive model, which determines whether fluctuations in the biomarkers of the Athlete Biological Passport are within the expected individual reference ranges for an athlete or not, the profile was flagged with a high haemoglobin concentration (Hb) and a high OFFscore in Sample 1, both values exceeding the respective upper 99.99% specificity level,” the first expert panel joint opinion stated.

In its qualitative assessment of the ABP profile, the Expert Panel noted that the HGB values for the entire profile were extremely high and well above the upper limit of the reference populations for adult males and undoped athletes, even taking into account the athlete’s altitude residency.

The panel argued that not even a change in altitude could have led to the high levels of HGB values.

“It is highly likely that a prohibited substance or prohibited method has been used and that it is unlikely that the passport is the result of any other cause,” the panel further stated.

Kiptum was notified of the charge on February 25 this year and given a chance to provide an explanation. He maintained that he had never used any Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method and relied on his history of negative urine tests taken in the period of his ABP Review by the Expert Panel.

Even after a second panel hearing confirmed the results of the first, Kiptum asked for the case to head to the tribunal which also did not accept his statements.

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NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 12 – Marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei has been named in the shortlist of five who will vie for the 2019 IAAF world female athlete of the year in Monaco at the end of the month.

Kosgei broke Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year world record at the Chicago Marathon last month whehn she ran 2:14:04 to take off a minute and 22 seconds from the previous record.

She is the only Kenyan to have made the final shortlist with 3,000m steeplechase world champion Beatrice Chepkoech failing to make it into the top five.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans voted online via our social media platforms. The Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.

She will vie for the award with Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands, USA’s Dalilah Mohammed and Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas.

Top five list

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)

– won world 100m and 4x100m titles in world-leading times of 10.71 and 41.44

– won Pan-American 200m title

– won seven of her 10 races at 100m

Sifan Hassan (NED)

– won world 1500m and 10,000m titles in world-leading times of 3:51.95 and 30:17.62

– won Diamond League 1500m and 5000m titles

– broke world mile record with 4:12.33 in Monaco

Brigid Kosgei (KEN)

– set a world record of 2:14:04 to win the Chicago Marathon

– won the London Marathon

– ran a world-leading 1:05:28 for the half marathon and 1:04:28 on a downhill course

Dalilah Muhammad (USA)

– broke world record with 52.20 at the US Championships

– improved her own world record to win the world 400m hurdles title in 52.16

– won world 4x400m title

Yulimar Rojas (VEN)

– won world triple jump title with 15.37m

– jumped world-leading 15.41m to move to second on the world all-time list

– won nine of her 12 competitions, including the Pan-American Games

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LOS ANGELES, United States, Nov 13 – USA Track and Field’s athletes grouping on Tuesday lashed out at World Athletics plans to cut several events from next year’s Diamond League series, accusing the sport’s global governing body of being “out of touch”.

In an open letter to World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, USATF’s Athletes Advisory Committee called on the global body to reverse plans to axe the triple jump, the 200 meters, steeplechase and discus from the Diamond League program.

The IAAF, which changed its name to World Athletics this week, announced the overhaul on November 6, claiming the moves would help streamline Diamond League events in an effort to make meetings more attractive for television audiences.

However the moves have been greeted with howls of protest across the athletics world, while American triple jump star Christian Taylor has announced the launch of a global group aimed at giving athletes a bigger say in the sport.

In its letter to Coe, the USATF athlete’s grouping said it “wholeheartedly condemned” the Diamond League reforms.

“The IAAF and Diamond League organisers have shown themselves to be completely out of touch with the sport they are entrusted to grow and protect,” the letter said, accusing world authorities of shutting athletes out of the reform process.

“We understand changes need to be made in order to attract the appeal of a global audience, but the IAAF has shown no desire to include a sufficient number of athletes in the thought or decision-making process and this is where our frustration lies.

“By eliminating the opportunity for discussion, we see that you do not have the athletes as partners in this process. Consequently, the decisions being made appear self-serving and biased.”

Although several of the downgraded events would continue to feature at Diamond League meetings, they will not have the same prize money, effectively relegating them to second tier status.

“The United States athletes have grown exhausted of accepting the unfavorable decisions made by the IAAF, which are typically made with minimal input from the athletes,” the USATF’s athletes council added.

“It is our hope that you would immediately reverse these actions to remove the events from the Diamond League schedule, and bring athlete representatives to the table to correct this major misstep.”

The group said it supported athletes like Taylor who were trying to create a coalition to protect athletes’ interests.

World Athletics’ reforms have met with widespread criticism. On Saturday, triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards said denying Taylor a stage to compete was “beyond comprehension.”

“There are so many things wrong with World Athletics decision re Diamond League events but what Usain Bolt showed athletics is that it’s not about events but personalities and to exclude and alienate one of the sport’s true stars (Christian Taylor) is beyond comprehension,” Edwards said on Twitter.

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LOS ANGELES, United States, Nov 13 – Disgraced running coach Alberto Salazar denied subjecting former members of his Nike Oregon Project to abuse or gender discrimination on Tuesday but admitted using “callous” language against athletes in the training group.

Salazar, who was banned for four years last month for a range of doping offences, has faced stinging criticism from several former runners over methods used in his controversial Oregon Project, which has now been disbanded.

Last week, former US runner Mary Cain said she had suffered physical and mental abuse at the training camp as a result of Salazar’s demanding regime.

Cain, a former high school prodigy who was tipped for middle-distance greatness, said she had suffered suicidal thoughts and started cutting herself as life in the training group took its toll.

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Cain detailed how she had faced pressure to become “thinner and thinner and thinner,” eventually causing her to stop menstruating for three years.

Another former runner, Olympian Amy Begley, said Salazar barred her from the training group in 2011, complaining she was “too fat” and “had the biggest butt on the starting line.”

In a statement to The Oregonian newspaper Tuesday, Salazar acknowledged using insensitive language but insisted it was part and parcel of life as an elite athlete.

“On occasion, I may have made comments that were callous or insensitive over the course of years of helping my athletes through hard training,” Salazar said.

“If any athlete was hurt by any comments that I have made, such an effect was entirely unintended, and I am sorry.

“I do dispute, however, the notion that any athlete suffered any abuse or gender discrimination while running for the Oregon Project.”

Salazar said his emphasis on weight was related to “what (an athlete’s) target training weight and performance weight should be to attain peak performance while maintaining an overall good well-being.”

“That’s part of elite sport,” Salazar said. “Maybe that needs to change. Indeed, I have always treated men and women similarly in this regard — to treat my female athletes differently I believe would not be in their personal interests or in the interests of promoting their best athletic performance.”

Nike shut down the Oregon Project in October when Salazar was banned for four years for an array of doping offenses that included trafficking in testosterone, tampering with the doping control process and administering illicit infusions of the fat-burning substance L-carnitine.

Salazar has denied wrongdoing and vowed to appeal the ban.

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