Kenya’s Team Cheruiyot had to contend with Nairobi’s high altitude and poor weather (wet and windy conditions) Thursday, June 11, 2020 in their defeat to Norwegian team led by the Ingebrigtsen brothers in a virtual 2000m race that took place in both Nairobi and Sandnes.
Team Cheruiyot – Timothy Cheruiyot, Edwin Melly, Vincent Keter, Timothy Sein and Elijah Manangoi – went down to the Ingebrigtsens (Filip, Henrik and Jakob) who were running at a favourable altitude of just 30m above sea level back in Norway.
Cheruiyot and Manangoi are the world 1500m champions in 2019 and 2017 respectively, but it was the youngest of the Ingebrigtsen brothers,Jakob, 19, who shattered the dream of the Kenyans at home soil when he ran the fastest time and European record of 4 min 50.01 sec to smash the previous best of 4:51.39 set in 1985 by Britain’s Steve Cram.
He however did not beat Moroccan Hicham Guerrouj’s world best of 4:44.79 that was set in 1999.
All three Ingebrigtsen brothers finished within the 4:57 mark, while only Cheruiyot posted the fastest time (5:03.05) for the Kenyans in the race run under terrible conditions.
KELLY AYODI was in Nairobi to capture Team Cheruiyot in action.
