Chemutai first but female duo eye 10000m podium

The World Athletics Championships are back. Slightly a year after an enthralling show at the Oregon 2022 edition in Eugene, USA, now Hungarian capital Budapest welcomes more 2000 athletes for the finest track and field competitions over the next nine days.

Medal hunt

On the 40th anniversary of the biennial event, this marks also the first time the Worlds will be held in back-to-back years following calendar disruptions by Covid-19.

There were 44 individual gold medallists at the Hayward Field in Eugene and 38 of them including world 10000m champion Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda are back to defend their crowns in Budapest.

Uganda will have some time at the stage as well with 20 athletes representing following withdrawals by Jacob Kiplimo and Janat Chemusto due to injury and doping allegations respectively.

“I believe that these young men are going to represent our country in the best way ever,” said team captain Cheptegei before departure this week.

That first batch including Cheptegei for the East African nation arrived in Budapest on Thursday. Of the entire team, five will be in action on Day One today at the National Athletics Centre.

Chesang, Chelangat shots

Uganda’s first clear shot at Budapest gold will come when Stella Chesang and Sarah Chelangat line-up in a field of 26 women from 13 countries for the 10000m final on Saturday.

It is a moment of redemption for the pair. Last year, Chesang lost her luggage and missed a flight, arriving only a day to the 25-lap final.

Owing to fatigue, she ended up finishing 14th with a national record (NR) time of 31:01.04 before surrendering her Commonwealth title despite fourth place in Birmingham, England a fortnight later.

Early this year, Chesang posted 10th place during the senior women’s 10km race during the World Cross-country Championships in Bathurst, Australia before finishing third on her 42km debut at the Hamburg Marathon in Germany.

Chesang, 26, chose to compete over 10000m in Budapest but her compatriot Chelangat has been more formidable on track, bouncing back from a slump to break the 3000m and 5000m NRs on the Diamond League circuit over the past two months.

However, the pair will be tested by a pretty solid field comprising title holder Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey and Commonwealth champion Eilish McColgan from Great Britain.

Then there is also country-mate Gudaf Tsegay who won the 5000m title in Oregon as well as Dutch girl Sifan Hassan who settled for fourth place last year.

Chemutai first on track

Unlike Oregon where Winnie Nanyondo started the country’s medal quest off, it is youngster Leonard Chemutai who goes first in the men’s 3000m steeplechase Heats this morning.

Chemutai, who posted seventh and fourth place finishes during the Nairobi 2021 and Cali 2022 editions of the World Athletics U20 Championships in Kenya and Colombia respectively, is the fifth different Ugandan to compete at this event in the Worlds.

And he is looking to earn a slot in the water-jump race final, as Benjamin Kiplagat, Abel Sikowo, Albert Chemutai and Jacob Araptany have attempted over the past editions.

However, with a personal best of eight minutes and 17.14 seconds earned during the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix in Székesfehérvár, it is still a learning curve for the 20-year-old.

This event is currently dominated by Ethiopian Lamecha Girma who broke the steeplechase world record (WR) mark to 7:52.11 in French capital Paris on June 9 but Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali is intent on retaining his title.

After Chemutai, Nanyondo will step onto the track for the women’s 1500m Heats at lunchtime. It has been a relatively quiet season for her and she is definitely faster than season best time of 4:01.96.

Nanyondo is good enough to advance to tomorrow’s semi-final Heats but her friend Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, who broke the WR to 3:49.11, is the favourite to retain her crown.

In the evening action, Abu Mayanja is back at the Worlds for the first time since the London 2017 edition and he will hope to advance in the 1500m Heats too.

BUDAPEST WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

DAY ONE - UGANDANS IN ACTION ON SATURDAY

11.35am: Leonard Chemutai (Men’s 3000m Steeplechase Heats)

1.15pm: Winnie Nanyondo (Women’s 1500m Heats)

7.02pm: Abu Mayanja (Men’s 1500m Heats)

8.55pm: Stella Chesang, Sarah Chelangat (Women’s 10000m Final)

DAY TWO - SUNDAY

5.05pm: Women’s 1500m Semi-Final (TBC)                        

5.35pm: Men’s 1500m Semi-Final (TBC)

6.25pm: Joshua Cheptegei, Joel Ayeko, Rogers Kibet (Men’s 10000m Final)