World 5000m and cross-country champion Hellen Obiri,two-time Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon – both regular teammates of Agnes Tirop over the years will lead the Kenyan challenge at the Memorial Agnes Tirop World Cross Country Tour, to be held in Eldoret on 12 February.
Tokyo Olympics 10,000m bronze medallist Letesenbet Gidey and Senbere Teferi, the silver medalist behind Tirop at the 2015 World Cross country will headline the foreign star attraction at the event set for Lobo village in Kapseret.
At the same event in Herzogenaurach where Tirop set a world 10km record last October, Teferi set a world 5km record of 14:29 having finished fourth in both of her recent cross-country outings, in Seville and Elgoibar.
Gidey had a memorable 2021 after running world records in both the women’s half-marathon and 10,000m . The 23-year-old Ethiopian has won five gold medals at the World Cross Country Championships, four of which were at junior level, and is also a world 10,000m silver medallist.
On the other hand Obiri who earned Olympic 5000m silver last year, opened her 2022 campaign last month with victory at the World Cross Country Tour Silver meeting in Dundonald.
Kipyegon, meanwhile, will be contesting her first cross-country race since the 2017 World Cross, where she finished sixth. Despite being a 1500m specialist, Kipyegon has always been a formidable competitor in cross country, having won two world U20 titles in the discipline.
The top-performing athletes from the recent Kenyan Cross Country Championships, held on this same course last month, will also be looking to produce another strong performance on home soil.
Other leading Kenyan runners expected to compete include world marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich, steeplechase specialist CelliphineChespol, Lilian Kasait, Beatrice Chebet, EdinahJebitok and TeresiahMuthoni. Bahraini steeplechaser Winfred Yavi, the two-time Asian champion and fourth-place finisher at the 2019 World Championships, is also entered.
Geoffrey Kamworor, who excels on all surfaces, is the biggest name entered for the men’s race. The two-time world cross-country champion and three-time world half marathon champion last raced at the Valencia Marathon in December, where he set a PB of 2:05:23. His last cross-country race, meanwhile, was the 2020 Kenyan Championships, where he finished second.
National 5000m champion Nicholas Kimeli, who finished fourth over 5000m at the Tokyo Olympics at fourth at the recent Kenyan Cross Country Championships, will also be competing, as will 2018 world U20 5000m champion Edward Zakayo, who finished just behind Kimeli in Eldoret last month.
Other entrants in the senior men’s race include USA’s 2016 Olympic 5000m silver medalist Paul Chelimo, Eritrean steeplechase record-holder YemaneHaileselassie, and multiple NCAA champion Edward Cheserek.
Tirop will be remembered and celebrated this weekend for her great achievements in athletics. In 2015, aged just 19 at the time, she won the senior world cross-country title in Guiyang, then went on to earn bronze medals over 10,000m at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships. Just one month before her death, she set a women-only world 10km record of 30:01.
