The 2006 Commonwealth Games 5,000m champion Augustine Choge has said his focus is to bring the Club Games title back to Kenya.
Choge,
who is also the 2012 World Indoor 3,000m silver medallist, said it’s
high time Kenya reclaimed its 5,000m supremacy during this year's Games
set for July 23 to August 3 in Glasgow, Scotland.
“My
desire is to reclaim the title I won back in 2006. I won’t be happy if
the crown continues staying out of the country,” said Choge, who won the
1,500m title during the Kenya Police Service Meet last weekend in
3:35.5, beating the reigning World Indoor 3,000m champion Caleb
Mwangangi to second place in 3:35.8. Abednego Chesebe settled for bronze
in 3:39.0.
“I am just looking for speed in the metric
mile race,” said the police officer, the 2003 World Youth 3,000m and
2004 World Junior 5,000m champion, who will line up for 1,500m race at
the Prefontaine Classic on May 31 in Eugene, USA and 3,000m at Hengelo
Meet on June 17 in The Netherlands.
Choge also wants to
improve on his 5,000m personal best of 12:53.66 set on July 8, 2005 in
Rome, Italy. “It’s almost nine years since that achievement hence it’s a
high time I improved it,” said the 27-year-old.
“I believe I have matured well and glory will be Kenya’s at Glasgow.”
TOUGH CHALLENGE
It
will not be an easy run for Choge during the national trials for the
Commonwealth Games with the World 5,000m bronze medallist Isaiah
Kiplangat and 2012 London Olympics 5,000m bronze medallist Thomas
Longosiwa set to feature.
Choge’s gold at 2006 is
Kenya’s last major silverware over the distance in major championships
races. Benjamin Limo won Kenya its last World Championships gold that
was the country seventh victory at the 2005 Helsinki Worlds.
John Ngugi is the only Kenyan to have won an Olympic 5,000m medal, a feat he accomplished at the 1998 Seoul Summer Games.
In
Commonwealth Games, Kenya had dominated in three consecutive editions
before Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro rocked the boat by winning the 5,000m
title at the 2010 Delhi Games.
Daniel Komen won the
5,000m crown at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur before Sammy Kipketer and
Augustine Choge went for similar exploits at the 2002 Manchester and
2006 Melbourne Games respectively.
It’s at the Delhi
Games that Kipsiro beat Eliud Kipchoge and Mark Kiptoo to gold before
going on to win the 10,000m title that his fellow countryman Boniface
Kiprop had won in 2006.
It’s not clear whether Kipsiro will defend his title but the entry of Olympics and World champion Mo Farah from Britain promises to make the battle for gold a pulsating one
No comments:
Post a Comment