[ad_1]
Belgrade, Serbia – Beatrice Chebet and Jacob Kiplimo On Saturday, the Kenyan women completely dominated in a 1-2-3-4-5 to repeat as world cross country champions.
I have summarized the race in a separate article. Below are my post-race thoughts and post-race interviews for the 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships. Click here for other interviews.
Kenyan women lived up to the hype
Before the race we I wrote about how the Kenyan women’s team was a dream team. — so good that just a decade ago they would have been considered a bizarre fantasy line-up born of surreal dreams. It was predicted that the sub-30 female 10km runner would not be able to score. They certainly lived up to expectations.In the end, the first player who couldn’t score was a 10k road WR holder. Agnes Getich (PB 28:46), finishing fifth despite leading most of the race.
Kenya not only dominated the top five, but completely dominated the rest of the world.Difference between Kenya’s #5 Ngetich and the top non-Kenyan leader, Uganda sarah chelangat, it was 33 seconds long.In that respect, Kenya Even more dominant than in 2017. Kenya dominated the top six places in that race, one place better than today, but only 18 seconds separated fifth place from the non-Kenyan leader.
Lilian Lengeluk was the only woman on both teams. She won silver at the Kampala Games six years ago, finished 12th at the 2019 Aarhus Games, and took silver this year. She did not run in last year’s World XC because she was suspended for 10 months after testing positive for the hormone therapy drug letrozole.
Béatrice Chebet wins a new title…can she win the big title this summer in Paris?
BELGRADE, SERBIA – MARCH 30: Beatriz Chebe of Kenya poses with a flag after winning the women’s senior race.(Photo credit: © Adam Nurkiewicz for World Athletics)
Chebet was a silver medalist in the 5,000m at the 2022 World Championships, but entered last year’s race at Bathurst under the radar. Letesenbet Gidi It was getting most of the attention. Chebet felt extra pressure today as the defending champion, but he handled it well and won two World XC titles at the age of 24.
Article continues below player.
Chebet did not come with a set strategy, but rather with a belief: endure. She knew she had to be ready for anything to win this race. However, the dynamics of her race played to her strengths as there were still five women remaining on the final lap. In that scenario, Chebet, who had a 14:05 5k PR and two 5k medals on the track, would have the advantage.
Afterwards, I asked Chebet if she was good at running in hot weather, and she said that she’s not good at running when it’s hot, but she’s good at running when it’s warm. Perhaps that’s part of the key to her success, because she considered today’s conditions not “hot” but simply “warm.” She also said today’s race was easier than her previous two wins in World Ta.
“The weather was nice,” Chebet said with a smile. “It’s like Kenya. Very nice weather. The obstacles weren’t too difficult. Maybe there were small challenges, but it was better than any cross country I’ve ever run. I ran in Denmark and it was very difficult. I ran in Australia and it was very difficult, but today was very good.”
Chebet has won three world titles in the last 14 months: 2023 World XC, 2023 World Road 5k, and 2024 World XC. The question now is whether she, who won silver and bronze in the 5,000 meters at her last two world championships, can add an Olympic title on this track.
Agnes Getich runs 10km on the road in 28 minutes 46 seconds and fails to win a medal in two months
It will be interesting to see what happens to Ngetich in the future. After winning her bronze medal at World It was when it was seconds.
If she won gold today, we would expect her to challenge for gold at the Olympics, given her impressive 28:46 10k PR. But she hasn’t even won a medal, so it’s hard to know what will happen. She doesn’t want to read too much into how the race will play out in hot conditions, but it’s safe to say that the idea that she will exert her unstoppable dominance on this course is no longer there.
Those who believe that roads are faster than trucks in long-distance races also gained momentum for their claims today. Gettic ran 28 minutes and 46 seconds on the streets of Valencia in January. Unmaculate Anyango I ran 28:57 in the same race. Neither team won a medal today. He may not have been at his best in Belgrade (Lillian Lengeluk, who finished third in Valencia, ran 29 minutes and 32 seconds in that race and won silver today). But in reality, there are top talents such as: Sifan Hassan or Letesenbet Gidi Athletes who can run under 29:10 on the track are likely to run under 29:00 on the road if they’re in good shape.
Like Beatrice Chebet, Jacob Kiplimo ran a smart race and was ready for anything.
Chebet and Kiplimo are among the world’s best runners in track events, so it’s no surprise that they also excel in cross country. But they’re not just good. Both players wonderful Chebet is a cross-country runner who has won gold (U20 race) → gold → gold in three World XC appearances, and Kiplimo has won gold (U20 race) → silver → gold → gold in four appearances.
The challenge of cross country is that you have to be prepared for everything: the hills of Aarhus, the wind of Bathurst, the heat of Serbia (even in March). Kiplimo embraces that aspect of the sport.
“You have to accept it,” Kiplimo said. “You have to accept the cold, the wind, the heat, everything.”
Has Joshua Cheptegei begun to decline?
2019 World XC Champion Joshua Cheptegei missed out on a medal today.He also struggled within himself. Marathon debut in Valencia (2:08:59) in December (admittedly, he ran a ridiculous time of 60:36). As a result, it is natural to ask whether he began to decline.
Now, considering that Joshua Cheptegei is a 5000m and 10,000m WR holder, current 10,000m world champion (actually won the last three times), and current Olympic 5000m champion. It would be foolish to exclude him from this summer’s Olympics. After all, Cheptegei won the world title at this track despite losing (3rd place) at last year’s World XC.
But consider these facts. Joshua Cheptegei is currently 27 years old.Do you both know how old are you? Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele When was the last time they won a medal at this track?
27.
To be honest, Mo Farah’s actual age doesn’t really matter to us because he was 28 years old when he won his first World Athletics medal. Perhaps more important is how long the long-distance track star has been winning medals. .
Elapsed time between first and last track medal
Haile Gebrselassie – 7 years (1993-2000)
Mo Farah – 6 years (2011-2017)
Kenenisa Bekele – 6 years (2003-2009)
The last three long-distance kings of trucking all reigned for six to seven years.
Joshua Cheptegei won his first track medal in 2017 (silver in the 10,000 meters), which means it’s been 7 years (he won his first gold in 2019, but three others All won gold medals in their first year on the track).
US drought continues at World XC
In participating in this work, we had the following expectations: Weiny Kelati Having just run 30:33 in the 10,000 race, she could potentially end America’s 13-year drought of not having a top 10 female finisher in World XC, and Anthony, who recently ran 27:08. Rotich could end the U.S. men’s seven-year World XC drought. There were no top 20 finishers (there were only two World However, after a brave drive, Kelati, who ran in the top 20 for the first two laps, finished in 15th place and Rotich in 22nd place.
Kelati and Rotich were, of course, born in Africa. The top non-African-born finishers in the senior race are:
woman: Karoline Bjerkeli Grobdal of Norway – The winner of the last three European XC titles and the 2024 New York City Half Marathon finished 14th. It was great to see Grobdal remain in the World XC results (this was the second time she took part in this event with her first finish). With nine medals, she is the most decorated woman in European XC history.
Man: Aaron Las Heras (Spain) The former Wake Forest and current NAU runner was 18th at NAU’s NCAA XC in the fall, but finished 17th at World XC today, moving up five spots from last year. He still has outdoor eligibility and is excited about the track season with hopes of finishing in the Olympic finals.
Kelati perseveres despite adversity
Kerati as she promised on friday, showed no fear and stayed with the leaders through two laps. Kelati fell off midway through the third lap, but seemed to be working pretty hard and was in seventh place, 24 seconds behind the leader, with one lap left.
But Kelati said he started feeling sensations after three laps, and after four laps in 80-plus degree sunshine, he knew it was going to be a tough finish.
“I was absolutely dead with one lap left,” Kelati said. “My body was so hot and my legs were shaking so much. [couldn’t] Please control my feet. ”
Kelati had to be taken to a medical tent afterward, but he didn’t remember much of the minutes after the race. But she said she was proud to have achieved her pre-race goal of finishing in the top 15. This is the best result for any American, male or female. Arifin Tuliamuk I was 15th in 2017, but I’m proud of my aggressive running.
“At some point you feel like, oh my god, this isn’t going to work for me, but I’m glad I did it,” Kelati said.
Katie Izzo, who broke her leg at USA XC, shouldn’t have run Team USA’s mixed relay, assuming a healthy replacement was available
When Katie Izzo grabbed the USA’s sash in the 4x2km mixed relay, the USA won the bronze medal by three seconds over Great Britain.But on the other hand, the British Bethan Morley ran an impressive anchor time of 5 minutes and 49 seconds, but Izzo could barely manage to record a time of 6 minutes and 13 seconds, dropping the American to eighth place.
It wasn’t a great anchor leg, but Izzo shouldn’t have been in that position. Izzo fractured the second metatarsal in his foot at the USA XC Championships on January 20 and missed five weeks of running due to the injury. An athlete with such a severe injury shouldn’t be running World should have made a phone call). It would have been different if Izzo had won the individual spot, but in the team race, she has three other athletes relying on you.
“Honestly, it’s a miracle that we even got here,” Izzo said. “When I found out I was going to be in the relay, I thought, ‘Okay, I have to cross-train.’ Every time I cross-trained, I thought of this mixed relay team…I trained.” to see if it can be done. Things were looking good for me to race, but obviously it will be difficult to get back to full fitness. ”
Kudos to Izzo for racing hard and doing his best in a meet that most Americans would happily skip. And even with a healthy anchor, the United States certainly wasn’t guaranteed a medal. Leg lengths vary depending on start and finish, but here’s how his other three legs split up compared to the rest of his 13-team field.Today’s American star was a player of his club Nike Union Athletics Ella Donahueoutperformed everyone except the Japanese women’s 3:59 1500. Nozomi Tanaka On leg 2.
First leg: Kasey Knevelbaard, 6:25 (8th fastest on his legs)
2nd leg: Ella Donogoo, 5:35 (2nd fastest)
3rd leg: John Reniewicki, 5:08 (5th fastest)
4th leg: Katie Izzo, 6:13 (8th fastest)
[ad_2]
Source link
