A supremely confident Emmanuel Wanyonyi will continue with his quest for a first global senior title when he lines up for the men’s 800m semi-final on Thursday from 9.50pm at the brand new running track here at the National Athletics Centre.
Wanyonyi, the world under-20 champion, will carry Kenya’s flag in the two-lap race with national champion Alex Ng’eno after seasoned Ferguson Rotich and Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Korir fell by the wayside.
On the same night, world 5,000 metres silver medallist Jacob Krop, 2023 World Under-20 Cross Country Championships winner Ishamel Kipkirui, Nicholas Kimeli, and Cornelius Kemboi of Kenya will face a star-studded field featuring world and Olympics 10,000m and 5,000m champion, Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, and defending champion Jacob Ingebrigtsen of Norway in the first round of men’s 5,000m from 8pm.
Wanyonyi, who finished fourth in the final at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 800m on Tuesday after winning the first heat in one minute, 44.92 seconds, while Ng’eno won the third heat in 1:47.63.
Wanyonyi, with a personal best of 1:43.27, appeared to tease and toy the field as he accelerated on the home straight and even had time to raise his hand in victory — “I am the man” he seemed to proclaim.
Kenyan will be keen to see what he has to offer in the penultimate race. Wanyonyi will compete in the third and final heat from 10:08pm in a field that also has Sweden’s Andreas Kramer and Bryan Hoppel of the USA.
World 800m silver medallist Djamel Sedjati from Algeria, and Saúl Ordóñez from Spain who finished second and third in 1:47.87 and 1:47.97 respectively in the third heat, will compete in the first semi-finals.
Ng’eno will compete in the second semis from 9.59pm alongside Canada’s Marco Arop, who is ranked top in the world this season, Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and Frenchman Gabriel Tual.
The top two athletes from each semi-final heat qualify directly to the final alongside the three fastest third-placed finishers.
Kemboi, 23, competes in the first heat of men’s 5,000m race alongside compatriot Kemeli, Cheptegei, Kenyan-born American Paul Chelimo, who won silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, defending champion Ingebrigtsen, 1,500m world bronze medallist Mohamed Katir of Spain, and Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet.
Krop will run in the second heat from 10.21pm alongside Kipkirui, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha and Berihu Aregawi, Henrik Ingebrigtsen of Sweden, and world championships bronze medallist Oscar Chelimo of Uganda.
Kimeli, 24, who finished eighth in the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Qatar and seventh in last year’s edition, competes in the first round of men’s 5,000m race just three days after competing in men’s 10,000m final on Saturday, finishing eighth.
Kimeli downplayed the pressure that often comes with doubling up in two races.
“I feel no pressure at all. I am fully focused on the task at hand. I have put the 10,000m final behind, and now its is time to focus on the 5,000m. No member of our team is injured, which gives us a good feeling going into the race.”
