ID :
404243
Tue, 04/19/2016 - 17:59
Auther :

World Champions Ayana and Cheruiyot to Clash in Doha

Doha, April 19 (QNA) - World champions Almaz Ayana and Vivian Cheruiyot will meet in a scintillating 3,000m clash at the Doha 2016 meeting, the opening event of the 14-meeting IAAF Diamond League series, on Friday, May 6. In what is sure to be one of the most anticipated early season middle distance showdowns, the meetings longest race pits Ayana, the 5,000m winner at the World Championships in Beijing last year, against Cheruiyot, who returned from maternity leave last season to strike world gold in the 10,000m. Cheruiyots triumph in Beijing was the fifth at a World Championships for the 32-year-old Kenyan whose previous season-long consistency on the track was rewarded with Diamond Race Trophies in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Meanwhile, Ayana, 24, is the Ethiopian national record holder in the 3000m, her 8:22.20 set last season ranking her 11th fastest of all-time. "With these two world champions meeting in the same race, we have again shown our commitment to bringing the best of middle and long distance racing to Doha," said Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) president Dahlan al-Hamad. "Two years ago Doha hosted one of the best womens 3000 metres races in history. I am very excited to see if we will witness a rerun of that this year as we prepare to kick-off the Diamond League series for the seventh time." The quality field also includes Ethiopians Senbere Teferi and Gelete Burka, the 2015 World Championships silver medalists in the 5000m and 10,000m respectively. Kenyan Viola Kibiwot, fourth in Beijing last summer, will also be on the start line. The field in the men's 3000m steeplechase is led by two-times Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya and his young compatriot, Jairus Birech, who last year won his second successive Diamond Race Trophy. Kemboi, who triumphed at the 2004 and 2012 Olympic Games, captured his fourth straight world title last year after three successive world silver medal finishes. The 33-year-old, whose career best of 7:55.76 ranks him No 6 all-time, will be gunning for his fourth win in Doha after victories in 2009, 2010 and 2014. Birech meanwhile is a rising force who took the event by storm in 2014 when he won the African and Continental Cup titles and nabbed victories at six out of seven Diamond League meetings. The only series title that eluded the 23-year-old that year was Doha. Birech, who finished fourth at last year's World Championships, brings a personal best of 7:58.41 from 2014 to the Qatari capital to rank No 10 all-time. Brimin Kipruto, the 2008 Olympic and 2015 world bronze medallist and African record holder, also returns gunning for his first victory in Doha. Kipruto clocked 7:53.64 in Monaco in 2011, missing Qatari Saif Saaeed Shaheens world record by a scant 0.01 seconds. Also in the field is his namesake Conseslus Kipruto, a former world youth and world junior champion who collected silver medals at the last two World Championships. (QNA)

X