NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 7 – Conseslus Kipruto has told Kenyans to calm down and that he will be at hand to restore Kenya’s respect in the steeplechase at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games this month.
Kipruto has been out struggling with injury since he sensationally won the World title in Doha in 2019 and missed the Tokyo Olympic Games last year.
In his absence, kenya lost the Olympic title for the first time in over four decades and the only medalist was Benjamin Kigen who settled for bronze as Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali clinched the crown.
However, Conseslus who has has slowly returned to action this year and has already competed in two Diamond League races believes that Kenyans should not be afraid they will also lose the World title in Oregon this month.
“I have hopes and I am the one to bring back the respect. We have a strong team and we believe in ourselves. We believe we will bring back the gold,” Kipruto told Capital Sport.
“Last time the people were running like crazy and fearing that our title is gone but I want to tell them to relax. I am here.”He added; “We have been training well and according to my progress, I feel very good. I am targeting victory and I know things will go well. I feel really comfortable and I feel I can run faster. I just want to tell Kenyans to pray for us and we will go there and bring back the respect.”
Kipruto finished third at the Kenyan trials, but he already had a Wild Card for the World Championships where he is the defending champion.
After Oregon, he will also head down to Birmingham, United Kingdom to try defend his Commonwealth Games title.
In the steeple team to the Worlds, he will team up with training partner Abraham Kibiwott, Benjamin Kigen and Leonard Bett.
Kiprutto and Kibiwott will head to the Commonwealth Games where they will be joined by World Junior Champion Amos Serem. The youngster won the Kenyan trials but couldn’t head to the Worlds as he had not fulfilled all of the stringent Anti-Doping regulations.
