Kiprop quick progress impresses Ruiter

Coach Addy Ruiter does a lot. Since shifting base from his mother country Netherlands to Uganda, he has produced multiple champions headlined by Joshua Cheptegei.

Yet, with three-time world 10000m champion Cheptegei shifting gears to the road business, someone has got to take on the mantle on track.

Ruiter is building a trio: Rogers Kibet, Dan Kibet and Keneth Kiprop as well as the lady Prisca Chesang. Kiprop is yet to grab a major piece of silverware at any level: continental or global.

However, he has produced a steep curve of progress evidenced by his victory at the Cardiff Cross-country Challenge in Wales recently.

“The boy is improving very nicely,” Ruiter said of Kiprop who won the 9.6km race in a time of 28 minutes and 32 seconds.

He had led for long spells and even held off Kenyan challenger Vincent Mutai in the closing stages on a memorable Saturday.

“I enjoyed winning this race in Cardiff because it was my first time to run in Europe in cross country,” Kiprop told World Athletics. “I thought that the sprint was going to win this race.”

Back in March, Kiprop backed up trust from the country and his management Global Sports Communication (GSC) to finish sixth in the U20 men’s 8km race during the World Athletics Cross-country Championships.

At the World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia, he came 15th in the road mile last month but overall, the 18-year-old is rising.

“Keneth is one of our biggest talents and is staying in our junior camp in Kween. When the motivation and discipline aren’t disappearing, he can be one of the medal contenders in the 10000m in a few years,” Ruiter described him.

“He ran fast from the beginning and quickly had a gap of 10 seconds. It stayed like that until the last 2km,” Ruiter explained the race in Cardiff.

“He then had to pass a lot of slow runners who he was lapping. Because of that, he could not see that the Kenyan runner (Mutai) was picking him up. But, he responded well and was far too fast in the sprint to the finish,” he added.

A 5000m national champion in July, Kiprop’s victory in Cardiff flashes chances of an U20 individual medal at the World Cross-country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia come March.

KIPROP AT A GLANCE

Full Name: Keneth Kiprop

Date of birth: May 13, 2005

Major Race: 5000m

Personal Bests: 13:15.90

Coach: Addy Ruiter

Manager: Jurrie van der Velden

Camp: Global Sports Communication Kween

WORLD ATHLETICS CROSS COUNTRY TOUR GOLD

CARDIFF CROSS-COUNTRY CHALLENGE

MEN’S 9.6KM RESULT

1 Keneth Kiprop (UGA)                     28:32

2 Vincent Mutai (KEN)                      28:35

3 Abele Bekele Alemu (ETH)             29:06

4 Zak Mahamed (GBR)                      29:19

5 Egide Ntakarutimana (BDI)            29:28