Olympic silver medalist Timothy Cheruiyot has stated that his poor performance in the ongoing World Championships in Oregon was due to a bout of injuries which have been a nightmare for his training.
In a race that saw Great Britain’s Jake Wightman clinch gold in 3:29.23, Cheruiyot clocked 3:30.69 to finish sixth while his counterpart, Abel Kipsang finished seventh in 3:31.21. Norway’s Filip Ingrebrigsten and Spain's Mohammed Katir settled for silver (3:29.47) and bronze (3:29.90) respectively.
Cheruiyot said the results did not come as a surprise to him because he was expecting tough competition. He also noted that getting to the final was not a walk in the park and is lucky to have made it.
“This is something I expected because deep down, I knew the race was going to be tough. I missed a lot of training sessions in the last few months because of my hamstring injury that has taken a huge toll on me,” Cheruiyot said.
He added: “The race was good and well planned and I was even encouraging Kipsang that we should not let our chances slip. However, in the last 100m, my legs were tired and that is why I slowed my pace. I could not make it to the podium. All in all, I am happy and I thank God that I made it to the finals,” Cheruiyot said.
However, the 26-year-old noted that he is not giving up as he plans to go back to the drawing board in preparation for the next assignment.
“For now, I am going to invest my time working on my weaknesses and rescheduling my program. I need to work extra hard as I await the oncoming competitions. My injuries are now healing and that gives me hope that I will do better next time,” he said.
On his part, Africa 1,500m champion Abel Kipsang said poor race strategy cost them in the final. "We miscalculated in the event and we did not plan well and we are disappointed. We will go back to the drawing board and will soon be back," he added.
Kipsang said his focus will now shift to the Commonwealth Games slated for Birmingham, England from July 28- August 8. " We promise to be better in Commonwealth Games later this month," noted Kipsang.
