By CHRIS MUSUMBA
His chance of an Olympic marathon title was blown by a thigh injury while training in Italy three weeks to Beijing 2008. But Robert “Mwafrika” Cheruiyot, 30, now wants to win the World marathon title and also set a world record.
With organisers having placed a caveat on the number of elite runners at the Berlin City Marathon, which has one of the flattest courses in the world, Cheruiyot, like Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru, had to shop elsewhere this summer.
While Wanjiru is heading to Chicago for his debut on American soil in October, Cheruiyot has been tasked with leading a five-man Kenyan contingent to the World Championship in Athletics in Berlin, where he hopes to continue Kenya’s tight grip on the 42-kilometre race.
“I want to run a fast race. The Berlin course for the World Championship is almost similar to the Berlin City Marathon one,” Cheruiyot said at the Nyayo National Stadium when Athletics Kenya announced its squad for the championship.
“There are a few sharp turns, but I will take them in my stride. I’m ready for it.”
It took 20 years for Luke Kibet to reclaim for Kenya the global title that Douglas Wakiihuri won in Rome in 1987, but the road racer who brought home the gold medal from Osaka, Japan, is not strong enough to defend it in Berlin.
Defend title
Unlike at the Beijing Olympics where he replaced an injured Cheruiyot, Kibet, a prison warder, has little hope of making the team this time round.
“I was waiting to see how their training goes before committing to run again. I am now focused on one race in Europe or America then head to Singapore to defend my title in November,” he said.
Together with Martin Lel, a three-time London Marathon winner and fifth-placed in Beijing, Kibet will be a reserve. In Kenya’s squad are Daniel Rono, Emmanuel Mutai, Cheruiyot, Benjamin Kiptoo, Abel Kirui (marathon), all of whom will be wearing the national colours for the first time.
Rono has raced in seven marathons and has ever been on the podium. He has a personal best time of 2:06:58, set in Rotterdam, and in Boston this year he ran 2:09:32 to finish second to Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga (2:08.43).
Mutai was fifth in London and Kirui has the fastest time, a 2:05:04 secured as he won in Rotterdam this year. Kiptoo set an Italian all-comers record of 2:07:17 in winning the Rome Marathon.
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