NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 9 – After a dazzling night out in Florence, Italy, the lucrative Wanda Diamond League continues on Friday night, the train this time stopping in the French capital of Paris, the venue for next year’s Olympic Games.
Kenyan representation will once again be huge, in terms of the names competing with Faith Kipyegon and Ferdinand Omanyala the leading Kenyan names in the city of love.
Here is the rundown on which Kenyan athletes will be in action and what time their races will be.
10:24pm – Women’s 5,000m
Fresh from breaking the 1500m women’s world record in Florence, Italy next weekend, Faith Kipyegon will step up a distance higher when she lines up in the women’s 5,000m in Paris.
Kipyegon will be competing in the race to seek endurance as she steps up preparation for the World Championships. Also, it is rumored that the 29-year-old might try a double over the 1500m and 5,000m in next year’s Olympic Games and tonight, she might be dipping her foot in the river to see just how deep it is.
Kipyegon will be under no pressure in the race, and noting she is off a very demanding race just a week earlier, will most likely tone down and enjoy herself on the circuit.
She is expected to battle it out against Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, the World record holder over the distance, in what is expected to be a lucrative battle.
Steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech has been enlisted as one of the pace setters.
Also lining up in the race is World Championships 10,000m bronze medalist Margaret Chelimo, Agnes Jebet, Grace Nawowuna and Lilian Kasait.
Laura Muir, who finished second behind Kipyegon’s world record run in Florence last week is also enlisted in the race.
11:12pm – Men’s 100m
Finally, African record holder and Kenya’s sprint sensation Ferdinand Omanyal will get his chance to compete against Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs. Twice, a match up between the two has gone up in smoke.
During last year’s Kip Keino Classic, Jacobs fell ill on the eve of the race and pulled out and in Rabat two weeks ago, the Italian also pulled out citing a slight back injury.
And now, he will finally line up against Kenya’s Omanyala, with the Commonwealth Games champion looking to clinch his first ever Diamond League victory.
It will be a loaded sprint field, with American Noah Lyles, the reigning world champion over 200m also in the race as well as Jamaican veteran Yohan Blake, the 2011 World Champion over the 100m and a double Olympic silver medalist.
Omanyala will be excited to race against Blake, his role model growing up. The two were to compete against each other last year during a Continental Gold Tour event, but Blake pulled out due to injury.
Also lining up in the race is Botswana’s rising star Letsile Tebogo.
11:32pm – men’s steeplechase
In the absence of Olympic and World Champion Soufiane El Bakkali, Kenyan athletes will have a chance to enjoy victory in a steeplechase race with a strong field lining out in Paris.
El Bakkali has enjoyed a massive dominance over Kenya in what was the country’s traditional race, but in his absence, the local boys can take a run for the throne once again.
Former World junior champions Amos Serem and Abraham Kibiwott line up in the race as well as Olympic bronze medalist Benjamin Kigen, each seeking their first overseas win of the season.
But even in the absence of the Moroccan, Ethiopian Lamecha Girma, who finished behind him both in Eugene and Tokyo, will be a man to watch for the Kenyan trio.
11:51pm – Men’s 800m
The two-lap race will close down the curtains on the Paris Diamond League, with reigning World Champion Emmanuel Korir, former World Junior Champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Commonwealth Games Champion Wycliffe Kinyamal leading the way.
Wanyonyi has been on form this season, winning at the Kip Keino Classic and the Rabat Diamond League and will be seeking his second win on the DL circuit.
World champion Korir has had a disappointing start to the campaign and finished eighth in Rabat while Kinyamala has a trio of second placed finishes from Doha, Kip Keino and Rabat, the last two behind Wanyonyi.
