•Kipsang, who is the reigning Africa champion, exhibited class by winning the first semifinal heat in 3:33.68.
•The Kenyan duo, however, have Olympic 15,00m champion Ingrebrigsten to contend with.
Image: FILE
Kenyans await the men's 1500m with bated breath, hoping that the promising duo of Timothy Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang will break the glass ceiling and scoop the elusive gold.
Both Cheruiyot and Kipsang breezed into the 1,500m final on Monday morning.
Kipsang, who is the reigning African champion, exhibited class by winning the first semifinal heat in 3:33.68. Cheruiyot finished fourth in the heat, clocking 3:37.04.
Cheruiyot heads into the contest high on confidence, having stormed to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver podium in the event. He also bagged another silver at the 2017 World Championships in London.
Kipsang placed fourth in the event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
He earned bronze behind Ethiopian Samuel Tefera and Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen in Belgrade and finished fourth behind the Norwegian over a mile in Eugene in May.
His season’s best of 3:31.01 was run at altitude in Nairobi in May, and at the Kenyan Trials last month, he took victory over world champion Timothy Cheruiyot in 3:34.55.
The Kenyan duo, however, have Olympic 15,00m champion Ingrebrigsten to contend with. Ingrebrigsten finished third in his semifinal heat, recording 3:37:02.
At the age of 21, Jakob Ingebrigtsen has very nearly done it all. He’s won European titles, an Olympic gold medal, and, earlier this year, he became the fastest indoor 1500m runner of all time, clocking 3:30.60 in Lievin.
It will come as a huge shock if he doesn’t fill that void when the men’s 1500m final takes place today.
Ingebrigtsen said he will “for sure” double over 1500m and 5000m in Eugene and his favourite event is up first, where he will seek to avenge his defeat at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade earlier this year.
Ingebrigtsen was the overwhelming favourite for that 1500m title but in the end, he had no response to the final surge from Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, who took gold in 3:32.77.
The British will be rooting for countryman Jake Wightman who fell short of his goal in Tokyo last year, fading to 10th place in the Olympic final.
After the debacle, Wightman put a renewed emphasis on endurance work through the winter and spring, running cross country and setting indoor PBs twice over 3000m.
His compatriot Josh Kerr, the Olympic bronze medallist, clocked a blazing 3:48.87 mile indoors in Boston but he has yet to truly fire so far in the outdoor season, his best of 3:35.92 coming in Birmingham back in May.
Tefera will lead the Ethiopian challenge and the two-time world indoor champion will be looking to win his first global outdoor medal.
Australia’s Ollie Hoare who has enjoyed a breakthrough year looks capable of contending for his first global medal in Oregon.
The US challenge will be led by Cooper Teare, the 22-year-old University of Oregon star who unleashed a big kick to take the US 1500m title in Eugene last month.