Kimeli confident of World Championships, Commonwealth podium finish

Following his victory at the men's 10.8km Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza, a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting, in the Spanish town of Elgoibar on Sunday, Kenya's Nicholas Kimeli says his focus has now shifted to track competitions ahead of the busy 2022 season. 

The Olympian who missed a medal in the 5000m race in Tokyo, in a last ditch surge says racing against high calibre fields has him motivated for the season to come. 

"Sunday’s race has been one of my hardest ever races because of the mud and the high-calibre field and I am happy for the win. At the Tokyo Olympics I narrowly missed a medal but I am determined to win a medal at either the World Championships in Eugene or the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham," said the 23-year-old Kimeli, who was running on Spanish soil for the first time. 

The Eldoret-based rising 5000m star added, "I now go back to Kenya to continue my training for the Diamond League meetings this summer."

Sunday's contest kicked off with Spain’s European indoor 3000m bronze medallist Adel Mechaal taking the early lead. He was closely followed by Ugandan teenager Rodgers Kibet and the rest of the favourites, including Ethiopia’s Campaccio winner Addisu Yihune and Kimeli.

Kibet moved to the front after the second kilometre and began to push hard, his brisk pace followed only by Yihune, Kimeli, Ethiopia’s Getnet Wale and World Under-20 steeplechase champion Amos Serem. 

Following successive laps of 6:40 and 6:39, first Serem and then Wale lost ground and the race became a three-athlete battle between the front-runner Kibet, Yihune and Kimeli, who had reportedly experienced slight back pain on the eve of the race.

Kibet’s relentless pace led to a 6:35 penultimate circuit and the three African aces reached the bell virtually even, much to the delight of the knowledgeable crowd assembled. Some two minutes into the closing lap, the 16-year-old Kibet began to falter as Yihune had found another gear. 

The last kilometre was thrilling as the Ethiopian built a two-second gap on Kimeli over the toughest section of the course and he seemed a safe bet for the win, but a brave Kimeli finally managed to catch Yihune and released a lethal change of speed over the final 200m to stride home unopposed in 33:47 after a frantic 6:21 closing lap.

Yihune jogged over the final 100m to finish runner-up, six seconds behind Kimeli, while Kibet finished third, 12 seconds adrift of the Ethiopian. In the fight for fourth place, Mechaal pipped a fading Wale to receive a standing applause from the crowd.

Additional reporting by World Athletics