Habari za Wiki - 22 Sept, 2020

Kimeli clocks 10,000m world lead

21 year old Nicholas Kimeli won the10,000m race at the Golden Spike meeting in Leiden on Saturday clocking a world-leading personal best of 26:58.97. Running his first 10,000m in three years, Kimeli ran alongside fellow Kenyan Solomon Kiplimo Boit during the early stages and  broke away just a couple of laps later and set off to win with a sub-27-minute time. Boit finished second in 27:41.10. As is tradition at this meeting, a golden spike trophy is presented to the top performer of the night. And guess who scooped the accolade? Kimeli. 

Geoffrey Kamworor Out of World Half
 
Geoffrey Kamworor, the world half marathon defending champion and world record holder, has withdrawn from the World Half Marathon Championships to be held on 17 October in Gdynia, Poland. Kamworor had in March been named to headline the Kenyan team by Athletics Kenya before the event was moved to October. Kamworor was hit by a speeding motorbike in late June and only started to resume his training in mid-August. 

According to his manager Valentijn Trouw, Geoffrey is building his training really well.
 
"At this moment, the World Half is not in his plans," Valentijn said. But after an accident like that, we can understand needing a bit more time to recover.
 
In Geoffrey's absence, Kibiwott Kandie is the man to watch.
 
In the meantime, the Ugandan men’s team is serious, with stars World 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo.

Kenyans shine at Japanese National Corporate Championships

It was a good outing for Kenyan athletes based in Japan during the 68th National Corporate Track and Field Championships held at Kumagaya, Saitama.

The high quality men’s 10,000m A heat was one of the best races, Kenyans swept the top 6 positions with Richard Kimunyan posting 27:01.42, a meeting record. Benard Koech came in second while Bedan Karoki was in third with 27:02.39 and 27:02.80 respectively. 

The 3000m steeplechase was a very close finish with world U20 champion Jonathan Ndiku stealing the win at the line from Philemon Kiplagat. Kiplagat had pulled away in the home strength, however Ndiku out leaned him at the finish, and both clocked 8:24.38 with Ndiku getting the win by 0.02 on review.  

On the last day, the mens 5000m was a solid race with Kenyan claiming top 3 positions.  Ndiku returned following his steeplechase win and took the race in 13:10.64 ahead of Benard Koech’s 13:11.10. Dominic Langat came in third. 

Women’s side had slightly less stacked Kenyan results, but Rebecca Njeri won the 5000m in blistering new meet record of 14:55.32  

Doha Diamond League Friday

The curtain will fall on the 2020 Diamond League season this Friday in Doha. Organizers have lined some mouthwatering clashes with 27 Olympic and World medallists competition. 

First, 3000m steeplechase Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto finally has a race. However, he will compete in 1500m, we believe no hurdles and no water barrier won’t be a problem for Conse. Should be interesting to see how that unfolds.

But then the 1500m runners are going to 800m. 1500m World champion Timothy Cheruiyot will compete in 800m as will 1500m Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon.

The 3000m women’s race will bring together some power house runners: Hellen Obiri, Beatrice Chepkoech, Hyvin Kiyeng Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi and Agnes Jebet Tirop.

Doha Diamond League will be live on SuperSport 228 from 19:00EAT across Sub Saharan Africa. Eurosport across Europe and NBC Sports in the US. Also check out the official Diamond League live stream.

To Non-Kenyan News

Jacob beats Jakob in Rome

Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo is coming really fast and he is going to be a danger. The 19 year old staged an incredible performance to win the 3000m race at the Rome Golden Gala, 7:26.64, the fastest time in the world since 2007, Diamond league record and a Ugandan record. Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a Norwegian record of 7:27.05 in second. Kiplimo is now the fastest teenager in history at this distance.

How good are their times? Eliud Kipchoge's benchmark at 3000m is 7:27.72.

Lamine Diack Guilty of Corruption

The governing body for athletics is called World Athletics now, but it used to be known as IAAF. Here’s part of why it needed a rebrand: the former IAAF boss Lamine Diack has been sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty on charges of corruption related to the Russian doping scandal.

Diack, 87, was found guilty of soliciting $4.1 million (3.45 million euros) from athletes suspected of doping to cover up the allegations and allow them to continue competing, including in the 2012 London Olympics.

From Us at Enda

We’re changing the way we give this year. 

2% of all Enda purchases are set aside in a community giving fund. Each year, the members of the community who contributed to that fund (by making a purchase) vote on who to support with those funds.

In the past, we’ve supported grassroots organizations Hoops for Kids and Cross World Africa. Just over a week ago, we asked Enda Community members who made a contribution in the past year whether we should support another similar organization or, in light of the pandemic wiping out incomes for most Kenyan athletes, if we should directly support athletes.

The overwhelming response (79.3% of the vote) was that we should directly support athletes in this time of need. So we’ve raced to set up a program to directly give small grants to athletes in need. Here’s all the details and instructions on how Kenyan athletes can apply.

We’ll keep you updated as we start giving out the grants. 

From the Enda Community

Are we allowed to choose two things to share from the community? Yes. Yes, we can. 

We were super impressed with Naomi Amuguni’s massive jumps

But we also loooove Moiro Konchellah’s style