The 2018 World Under 20 1500m bronze medalist Justus Soget says this weekend's second leg of the Athletics Kenya Track and Field Weekend Meeting at Kenyatta Stadium, Kisumu is the perfect opportunity for him to officially transition to the 5000m race.
After clocking 3:42.14 to finish third at the World Under 20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, the 22-year-old has sort of flown under the radar, mostly plying his trade in Japan where he competes for the automaker, Honda Motors.
Albeit he started out as a 1500m runner, Soget believes the fact that he specialises in 5000m back in Japan will work to his advantage against his competitors.
"In Kisumu, I will be running the 5,000m race as part of endurance in many races to come. I have had good runs in the 1,500m and running 5,000m in Kisumu will give me an advantage ahead of many races," Soget said.
The 2018 Glasgow Müller Indoor Grand Prix 3000m champion is currently on holiday in the country and is maximizing on the opportunity to sharpen himself.
He has been going through his paces at the Torongo Athletics Camp in Baringo, County.
Soget says victory in 'Dala' will put him in prime position to achieve his dream of representing Kenya at the World Championship in Oregon as well as the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July this year.
"My target is to run many weekend meets as part of preparations for the two important events like the World championships and Commonwealth Games. Now that I am off duty, serving my leave, I will be using such great time to train for these big events where I will be chasing for medals,” the Kirobon High School alumnus said.
He added: "After the Kisumu meet, I will also compete in some of these World Indoor Championships but I am not sure which ones. We are in contact with race organizers to select them for me.”
Elsewhere, World Indoor 800m champion Collins Kipruto continued his preparations to defend his title with victory at the Meeting de l’Eure Val De Reuil on Monday night in France.
Kipruto clocked 1:47:05, ahead of countryman Noah Kibet (1:47.27) and Moroccan Mostafa Smaili (1:47.27) in second and third respectively.
The 2020 Villa de Madrid 800m champion admitted that tougher challenges await him ahead of the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on March 18-20.
"The competition gets tougher from here going forward because top athletes will be in action," he said.
He will be next in action on Thursday at the Pas-de-Calais World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold Meeting in Northern France.
