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Kenya: Conseslus Narrates Painful Emotional Turmoil of Battling Injury and Watching Kenya Lose Olympic Steeple Title

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4 years ago

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Nairobi — Conseslus Kipruto sat back at his home in the Kenyan Rift Valley and painfully watched as Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali won the Olympic Gold medal in Tokyo, dethroning him from the title he had won five years back in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Conseslus was not in Tokyo to defend his throne, but was at home, battling the physical and mental battle of returning from injury.

Just a few weeks back at the Kenyan trials for the Olympic Games, Conseslus had hobbled off after just four laps, clearly struggling to sustain the tempo and return to action after an injury that plagued him ever since he won the world title in Doha in 2019.

“That was the most painful and difficult thing for me watching at home. I was the defending champion and that made it even more painful because I was not there to defend my title and fight for my country,” Conseslus says, reminiscing his emotion from that painful race where Kenya lost the steeplechase Olympic title for the first time in slightly over four decades.

Adds the steeplechase king; “This event is ours as a country and watching us lose it in Tokyo was not easy. This is something that motivates me to come back and in my mind, I want to make sure that I defend my title in Oregon and we bring the glory back. I still have hope we can do it.”

Conseslus has struggled with injury and even before the 2019 World Athletics Championship in Doha, he had to put up a home-built swimming pool to aid his recovery from injury.

He went on to clinch the title in one of the most sensational finishes in a steeplechase race, but since, then he has struggled to remain on top with injury.

Speaking to Capital Sports, Kipruto says it has been a tough mental and physical journey.

“It has been very difficult. As an athlete, to try and compete again after training is so hard. The mentality to race after a long time is not easy to achieve. I have been struggling from training and I push myself so much,”

“Sometimes I get lost in my mind during training and when it comes to racing I start well but drop off after two or three laps. It has been difficult to break that barrier mentally,” he added.

The 27-year old has however said he has battled the journey of recovery and is now ready to bounce back to the top. He says he has received a lot of support during his time of struggling and now wants to repay the faith shown in him by his coaches, training partners and friends, with winning titles.