Kipsiro, Inzzi back in action in Zurich tonight
Aug 30, 2012
Moses Ndiema Kipsiro and Dorcus Inzikuru get a chance tonight to make up for their 2012 Olympic disappointment when they run at the Samsung Diamond League series finals in Zurich.
By Louis Jadwong & Agencies
Zurich start lists
Thursday 10.20pm
Moses Ndiema Kipsiro and Dorcus Inzikuru get a chance tonight to make up for their 2012 Olympic disappointment when they run at the Samsung Diamond League series finals in Zurich.
Kipsiro and Inzzi compete at the Weltklasse Zürich, where Usain Bolt leads fifteen Olympic champions, 14 reigning World champions and 17 current world leaders in what is expected to be a thrilling night at Zurich’s Letzigrund Stadium from 9pm today.
Olympic 5000m and 10000m champion Mo Farah will not be in the race, leaving it wide open. Kipsiro could only finish a dissapointing 10th in the 10,000m and 15th in the 5000m at London 2012.
Inzikuru, who only made it to the 3000m steeplechase at the Olympics at the last minute, continues her comeback and should perform better than at London 2012, where she failed to make the final.
The London Olympics for Team Uganda ended in a climax, with Stephen Kiprotich winning the marathon gold medal. It was Uganda's first gold since John Akii Bua's 400m hurdles feat in 1972.
The biggest name on the programme today is that of Usain Bolt, the twice double Olympic individual sprint champion who will be contesting his favourite distance, the 200m, in Zurich. The 26-year-old World record holder followed up his 19.32 Olympic title defence with a solid 19.58 meet record in Lausanne last week. With the Jamaican loose and running pressure-free, the 19.79 meet record set by Wallace Spearmon in 2010 is clearly in danger.
Bolt’s double sprint triumph in London captured headlines across the globe, but so too did David Rudisha’s powerful and courageous solo run towards a 1:40.91 World record, bar none the most sensational performance of the entire 2012 Olympic Games.
The 23-year-old Kenyan’s only post-Olympic outing will be in Zurich – anyone who has witnessed Rudisha’s displays of speed over the past three seasons knows that whenever he takes to the track, anything is indeed possible. An immediate target is Wilson Kipketer’s 1:41.24 meeting record set 15 years ago, still the fifth fastest performance of all-time.
The men’s 5000 meanwhile is nearly impossible to call. Ethiopians Dejen Gebremeskel (12:46.81 SB, PB) and Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:47.53 SB, PB) lead the standings with 8 points apiece, with Kenyan Isiah Koech (12:48.64 SB, PB) just one point behind.
Although he played into the hands of winner Mo Farah in the Olympic final, Gebremeskel did live up to his podium expectations with a silver medal finish ahead of Kenyan Thomas Longosiwa, who is also in the field here. Former World champion Bernard Lagat, who was fourth in London, Koech who was fifth, Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Galen Rupp and John Kipkoech, a sub-12:50 runner this season, are also in the field.
2012 London Olympic results