Former world 5,000m bronze medallist Isaiah Koech and Paul Kipsiele Koech face a tough battle in the 3,000m at Globen Gala Indoor meeting in Stockholm today.
The Kenyan pair face the Ethiopian duo of Yenew Alamirew and 18-year-old world junior 5,000m champion Yomif Kejelcha, who was second over the distance in the opening World Indoor Tour in Karlsruhe last week
World 1,500m silver medallist Elijah Manangoi faces an acid test when he takes on Djibouti’s world indoor 1,500m champion Ayanleh Souleiman. The Djibouti runner has set his sights on the 1,000m mark of 2:14.96 ran in 2000 by Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer.
World 1,500m champion Genzebe Dibaba will attempt to better the 26-year-old world indoor mile record of 4:17.14 set by Romania’s Doina Melinte.
Dibaba, voted IAAF Athlete of the Year in 2015 after a season in which she won the world 1,500m title and ran a world record of 3:50.07, expects tough opposition from compatriots Axumawit Embaye, the 21-year old world indoor silver medallist and world junior silver medallist Gudaf Tsegay.
Sweden’s Abeba Aregawi, the second-fastest indoor 1,500m runner of all-time behind Dibaba, has had to drop out of the event with a reported back injury.
Eight of the 13 featured events will count towards the IAAF World Indoor Tour standings, which will be completed concluding on Saturday in Glasgow. The individual overall winner of each event will receive Sh2 million in prize money and wild card qualification for the next edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships, starting with next month’s competition in Portland.
The men’s 60m offers Kim Collins, the 2003 world 100m champion, who turns 40 in April, the opportunity to demonstrate that he still has all it takes to remain at the forefront of world sprinting. The man from St Kitts and Nevis takes on a field that includes 30-year-old Mike Rodgers of the United States, who ran 6.53 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday to make it two wins out of two on the World Indoor Tour so far.
Collins, who has also run 6.53 this season, has beaten Rodgers in seven of their past eight meetings. Watch out too for 20-year-old Trayvon Bromell, an unexpected world 100m bronze medallist last season, who finished second behind Rodgers in Boston in 6.57.
The men’s long jump will not count towards the standings, but it will offer one of the high points of interest for home supporters as Sweden’s Michel Torneus and Andreas Otterling who won gold and bronze medals respectively at last year’s European Indoor Championships, take on a field which includes three of the top four at last year’s World Championships.