Kiplagat, Araptany renew medal hunt

By Norman Katende in Moscow

IAAF World Athletics Championships

Men 3000m Steeplechase (9.10 am) 

BENJAMIN Kiplagat and Jacob Araptany continue their search for an elusive senior medal at an IAAF event when they line up for Round I of the men’s 3000m Steeplechase. 

They will be joined by Timothy Toroitich, who did not have a good outing in the 10000m final on Saturday.

The duo who have enjoyed success at junior level, have failed to replicate it at senior level and will be desperate to end that barren run. The aim is to finish among the top three in their respective heats to advance to the final directly.

Kiplagat who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Bydgoszcz World Junior championships, finished ninth at the Beijing Olympic Games though his performance at the London 2012 Olympic Games was poor.

Kiplagat, who hurt his knee after he fell during the London 2012 Olympic Games before he was disqualified for stepping inside the inner lane due to a tagging, will be trying to advance to the final, with a dream of breaking Kenya’s dominance, most especially after beating them in previous grand prix races. He will be racing in Heat I.

“First of all, I want to advance to the finals,” he said, knowing how hard it is to be among the top three in a competition that has highly rated Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad of France, Kenyan Abel Mutai and Bahrain’s Tareq Tahar.

“I will try to squeeze in there,” said Kiplagat, who is used to running at the front of the pack.

Araptany, also a world junior bronze medallist at the Moncton 2010 World Junior Championships finished fifth at the last edition of the World Championships, where he led the race going into the final lap, is aware of what awaits him in Heat II.

“I have recovered and have been training hard. My target now is to qualify for the final,” he said.

Both athletes have been dogged with injuries but they say they are fit enough to compete and excel.

Toroitich will be racing in Heat III.