•Kipsang says he will work hard to ensure the two do not finish ahead of him in Oregon
•He will retreat to his Kapcherop training base in Mount Elgon to prepare for the World Championship
•Two medals in Belgrade are a slight improvement from Birmingham, England in 2018
Image: REUTERS
Newly-crowned World Indoor 1500m bronze medalist Abel Kipsang has promised to revenge against double world indoor champion Samuel Tefera and Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigsten when they meet at the World Championship in July.
Kipsang raced into the lead alongside the Ethiopian before the Norwegian recovered to eventually claim silver in 3:33.02 as the Kenyan settled for bronze in 3:33.36 — a season's best for the Mt Elgon native.
Tefera set a new championship record of 3:32.77 on his way to gold.
Kipsang says his next step is a gold medal and not even the duo will be able to match him.
"When we go to the World Championship in Eugene in summer, I will make sure that Tefera and Ingebrigsten do not finish ahead of me...I must get gold," the Tokyo Olympics finalist said.
He added: "One thing I have realised about running indoors was that you can either win or perform poorly, and it is good to attack from the front because you never know what can happen. Now I will return to my training base in Kapcherop in Kenya."
As he strategises on his assault at the world title, the National Police Service officer is content with his first medal and counts it as progress considering the disappointment at last year's Tokyo Olympics.
After temporarily setting an Olympic record of 3:31.65 in the semis of the quadrennial games, Kipsang faltered in the final, clocking 3:29.56 to finish fourth.
"I am very happy with the bronze because at the previous championships, I have just fallen short (sic). I finished fourth at the African Games in 2019 and at the Olympics last year, I also took fourth place. So it is an improvement for me today and I am glad for it," he said.
At the same time, Ingebrigsten lauded Kipsang and Co for a great race and for upping the competition in the men's 1500m.
"I came here for the gold medal so of course I am disappointed. I've been the best this season so I expected more. At the same time, it's a lot of fun to be part of a great field with these athletes, all of us running faster and faster. That's great for the sport. Rivalries are really important," the Norwegian said.
Even though the Serbian outing continued Kenya's poor run at the indoor championships in recent years, two medals in Belgrade are a slight improvement from Birmingham, England in 2018 when Bethwell Yego's bronze in the men's 3000m was the only thing to smile about.
World Under-20 800m bronze medalist Noah Kibet won silver in the men's 800m on Saturday afternoon, before Kipsang's exploits on Sunday.