Micah Kogo keeps the fire burning

By Mutwiri Mutuota for The Kenyan Standard

Since he announced his arrival on the men’s 10,000m scene with a storming 26:35.63 triumph at the 2006 Brussels Golden League meet, Olympic bronze medallist Micah Kogo has always looked a candidate likely to end Kenenisa Bekele and Ethiopia’s hegemony in the 25-lap race.

At the New KCC/AK National Championships, Kogo, 23, is among those tipped to clinch a ticket for the August 15 to 23 World Championships in Berlin after a sparkling start to the season. He set the world 10K record (27:01) among other remarkable performances. "I’m preparing to be in good shape for the national championships. I want to qualify for Berlin first before working even harder for a top medal.
"I’m working to get in the best shape and I hope to improve on my bronze medal placing," Kogo told FeverPitch before he left for New York meeting last month. There, he won the men’s 5,000m race in 13:02.90, beating world champion Bernard Lagat (13:03.6) to second place.

At Berlin Golden League meeting, Kogo got his first go at double Olympic champion and world record holder (5,000m and 10,000m) where after giving chase to Bekele’s famed kick at the bell; he succumbed to third in 13:01.30. Bekele’s winning time was 13:00.76. At the Olympics, Kogo, who qualified after finishing third at the Trials, won the third medal after a storming run in the back straight led him to the line in the exact time as former double Africa junior champion, Moses Ndiema Masai (27:04.11) but the world 10K record holder received the photo-finish verdict.

On March 29, Kogo lowered Ethiopia’s great Haile Gebrselassie’s previous 27:02 10K record at the Parelloop race in the Netherlands, an act that did not go down well with the archrivals who immediately set to reclaim it. "They (Ethiopians) are very determined to get back the 10K world record to their country. Haile and (Boston Marathon champion Deriba) Merga have tried it. It means I have to work harder to improve on it before they get to the mark," Kogo said.

In April, Haile and Merga failed in their attempts to better Kogo’s record in Manchester, England (27.39) and Ottawa, Canada (27.23). Japan-based runners, Josphat Muchiri Ndambiri (26:57.36), Martin Irungu Mathathi (26:59.88); Gideon Lekumok Ngatuny (27:01.83) and Mekubo Mogusu (27:26.56) who occupy top positions in the world leading 10,000m charts pose threat to Kogo’s Berlin ambitions during the national championships.
Others are Masai, who won last year’s Olympics trials, and former World Cross silver medallist, Leonard Komon.