NAIROBI, Kenya, June 7 – The 2005 world champion in the men’s 5000m, Benjamin Limo, believes world cross country junior champion Ishmael Kipkurui is a future world champion and will definitely soar high if mentored correctly.
Limo said the 18-year-old from Baringo County has all the tools required to end Kenya’s thirst for gold in the 12-and-a-half lap race but needs nerves of steel and self-discipline if he is to reach the stars.
“This boy…I remember saying that he is the one to reclaim Kenya’s gold in the 5000m. He needs to be mentored so he can develop mental strength. I remember he was having trouble with training and I talked to him before the World Cross Country championships in Bathhurst, Australia. When he won gold, he came back and said I was right about him,” Limo said.
Limo was Kenya’s last winner of the men’s 5000m at the World Championships, clocking 13:32.55 to win gold in Helsinki, Finland in 2005.
Limo’s other accolades in his esteemed career include silver at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain as well as gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
Kipkurui, on the other hand, is considered one of Kenya’s brightest stars, having been part of the country’s victorious team in February in Australia where he clocked 24:29 to win gold in the junior men’s race.
He secured qualification for August’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary after clocking 13:05.67 to win the men’s 5000m at the Meeting Citta di Lucca meet in Italy on Sunday.
Besides Kipkurui, Limo noted that Kenya is blessed with an abundance of talent in the men’s 5000m but that they only need to be trained on mental resilience so as to cope with the threat of the Ugandans and Ethiopians.
“We need to inform these athletes that the qualification rounds are just as important as the finals. In the men’s 10,000m, this is not a major problem because it is a straight final but in the men’s 5000m, it is important that we sit down with runners and explain to them why they should take the qualification rounds seriously,” he said.
Limo added: “As coaches, we also need to improve on our training. During my time…and ahead of the World Championships…I had two weeks of training. It is important to pay attention to low altitude training as much as high altitude training. Maybe we should consider the long distance runners travelling a bit earlier so they can acclimatise to low altitude countries because the World Championships is all about pushing.”
Limo, who never competed at an Olympics Games, further urged Athletics Kenya (AK) to revise their selection criteria to major international competitions to avoid locking out athletes who may be the country’s medal prospects.
“It is about time we revise the selection criteria…I remember ahead of the Olympics, they were taking the top three finishers…none of those selected made the finals of the men’s 5000m,” he recalled.
