Most Kenyan runners will not take part in the 2022 Stockholm Diamond League (Bauhaus Galan) slated for Thursday 30 June at the Olympic stadium in Sweden.
The athletes will not grace the event this year because they are fresh from competing at the Kenyan national trials held a few days ago in the capital, Nairobi, hence they will use the remaining days to recover from the fatigue.
These stars are also preparing for the eagerly awaited World Athletics Championships scheduled to take place from Friday 15th July to Sunday 24 July in Oregon, the United States.
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Some of the athletes who will miss the event include 800m Olympic champion Faith Chepngetich, 1500m world champion Timothy Cheruiyot and 100m sensation Ferdinand Omanyala.
5000m specialist Hellen Obiri, Margaret Chelimo, Kibiwot Kandie, Conseslus Kipruto, Jacob Krop, Nicholas Kimeli, Daniel Simiyu, and 3000m women’s steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech are also set to miss the meeting.
800m Olympic champion Emmanuel Korir and 2019 world championships bronze medalist Ferguson Rotich are the only elite Kenyan runners who will compete in Stockholm.
Rosefline Chepngetich, Fancy Cherono, Cornelius Kemboi and Boaz Kiprugut are also in Sweden ahead of the meeting.
Newbies Boaz Kiprugut, and Cornelius Kemboi will battle it out with the likes of Ethiopia’s Yihune Addisu and Jacob Kiplimo in 3000m steeplechase on Thursday night. In the women’s event, Kenyan-born Kazakhstan international Daisy Jepkemei is expected to line up alongside favorite Felicitas Gesa Krause of German, Fancy Cherono, Lea Meyer and Alice Finot.
Krause finished second in the 2021 edition behind Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng in 9:09.13. The German boosts of a personal best of 9:03.30, the fastest in the field.
English sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, reigning 100m Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Mondo Duplantis, and Uganda’s duo of Jacob Kiplimo and Winnie Nayondo are some of the international stars who will take part in Stockholm Diamond League.
Bauhaus-Galan is the ninth event in the 2022 Wanda Diamond League season. The next Diamond League meeting will be staged after the World Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games on August 6th in Silesia Poland.