Serem leading Kenya's quest for steeplechase glory in Tokyo
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Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 11.09.25. | 11:05
Team Kenya will be aiming to better their 2023 outing in Budapest where the country secured 10 medals; three gold, three silver and four bronze.
As Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali heads to Tokyo for the World Championships seeking a hat-trick of 3000m steeplechase titles, Kenyan fans cannot help but wonder whether the nation will ever reclaim it's dominance in the men's distance.
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The Olympic champion dethroned Kenya in Eugene 2022, defending his title a year later in Budapest, finishing ahead of Lamecha Girma in both instances as Kenya's Conseslus Kipruto and Abraham Kibiwott settled for bronze in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
El Bakkali's victory in Eugene brought to a stop a seven-championship winning streak for Kenyans. Ezekiel Kemboi dominated in that period with four back-to-back titles. Kipruto was the defending champion before the Moroccan won in Eugene.
The back to win Kenya's 14th title stops with 17-year-old Edmund Serem.
A World U20 champion, Serem has had a stellar season, culminating in a second place at the Diamond League final in Zurich, on Thursday, 28 August. He clocked 8:04.00 for third place at the Monaco Diamond League, a mark he carries to Tokyo as his life time best.
In addition to El Bakkali, Serem will face still competition from Ethiopia’s world record-holder Girma, who is still seeking his first global title.
Girma is seventh fastest this year with the 8:07:01 he recorded in Paris.
The trio faces off with Frederik Ruppert of Germany, who has 8:01:49 personal best, a national record he clocked in following El Bakkali home in Rabat. Ruppert went on to win the Diamond League title in Zurich.
Serem's compatriots 2023 African Games bronze medallist Simon Kiprop Koech, and 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Abraham Kibiwot, will be in the running for a medal in the loaded field too.
Home hopes will rest on Ryuji Miura, third on the entry list with a Japanese record of 8:03:43 set in chasing El Bakkali home at the Monaco Diamond League meeting, in a race Serem ran his PB.
That race in Monaco was the outstanding one so far this season in terms of the quality of times, with the respective fourth- and fifth-place finishers, Morocco’s Salaheddine Ben Yazide and Girma’s compatriot Getnet Wale, taking sixth and ninth places on the season top list with 8:06:44 and 8:07:57.
Ethiopia’s fastest man this season is Samuel Firewu, who clocked 8:05:61 in Xiamen on 26 April, also adds to the depth in Tokyo.
Additional reporting by World Athletics
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