• Timothy Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang will be hoping to raise Kenya’s flag high. Cheruiyot is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 3:28.28. He is the Olympic and Commonwealth Games 1500m silver medalist.
• Kenyan duo of Wycliffe Kinyamal and Emmanuel Korir will be lining up for the race. Kinyamal is a two-time Commonwealth Games winner with a personal best time of 1:43.12. Korir is a world and Olympic 800m champion. He is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 1:42.05. Korir competed in Brussels and placed third in 1:44.12.
Image: FILE
World 5,000m silver medallist Beatrice Chebet is among a star-studded list of elite runners set to compete at the Diamond League series finale in Zurich on Wednesday evening (6:35p.m EAT).
Chebet has had a stellar season, from striking a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon (14:46.75) to winning the Commonwealth Games (14:38.21) and the 2022 ISTAF World Continental Tour Silver meeting in 14:44.25. She has a personal best time of 14:34.55 which she ran in Oslo in 2021.
In Lausanne, she placed third (8:27.14) in the race that was won by Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba in 8:26.80. USA’s Alicia Monson placed second in 8:26.81.
Chebet will be in the company of world 10,000m bronze medallist Margaret Chelimo. Chelimo has a personal best time of 14:27.12. The Kenyan duo will be competing against other elite athletes who will also be seeking top honors.
Sifan Hassan of Netherlands will be in the race with hopes of redeeming herself after a disappointing show in Oregon. The two-time Olympic champion fizzled out to finish sixth and fourth in the 5000m (14:48.12) and 10,000m (30:10.56) respectively. She has a personal best time of 14:22.12.
Ethiopian quartet of Gudaf Tsegay, Hawi Feysa, Fantu Worku and Ejgayehu Tawe will also be in the race. Tawe is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 14:12.98 which she ran at the Prefontaine Classic competitions in Oregon in May.
Tsegay is the world 5000m champion and the Olympic 5000m bronze medallist. She placed fourth (14:51.30) at the Prefontaine Classic competitions. Tsegay is the second fastest in the field with a personal best time of 14:13.32.
Hawi and Worku have personal best times of 14:33.66 and 14:26.80 respectively. Hawi placed second in her personal best time at the Diamond League Meeting in Birmingham while Worku placed third (14:49.64).
Monson will also be in the race having run a personal best time of 14:31.11. Britain’s Amy-Eloise Markovc and Viktoria Wagner-gyurkes of Hungary have personal best times of 14:56.60 and 15:16.11 respectively.
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Women’s 3000m Steeplechase (Thursday 8:33p.m EAT)
The field has also attracted some of the elite athletes including but not limited to World Under-20 3000m SC champion Faith Cherotich, Ethiopia’s Werkuha Getachew and Commonwealth 3000m SC winner Jackline Chepkoech.
Cherotich is the youngest in the field with a persona best time of 9:09.63. She placed fourth during the Brussels meeting in her personal best time. At the Kip-Keino Classic competitions, Cherotich placed second in 9:12.04.
Chepkoech has a personal best time of 9:02.43. She placed first in Brussels to clock her personal best time. She placed fifth at the Kip-Keino Classic in 9:26.55. She also placed fifth in Monaco (9:09.72). Another Kenyan in the race will be Virginia Nyambura who has a personal best time of 9:13.85.
Getachew is the World 3000m SC silver medallist and the Africa 3000m SC Champion. She is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 8:54.61. She is also the winner of the Diamond League Meeting in Monaco where she timed 9:06.19 to cross the finish line.
Other Ethiopian’s in the race will be World 3000m SC bronze medallist Mekides Abebe, World Under-20 3000m SC silver medalist Sembo Almayew and African Championships 3000m SC silver medallist Zerfe Wondemagegn. Abebe, Almayew and Wondemagegn have personal best times of 8:56.08, 9:09.19 and 9:06.63 respectively.
Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi will also be in the line-up with a personal best time of 8:56.55. She placed second in Brussels and the Prefontaine Classic competitions in respective times of 9:03.44 and 8:58.71. At the World Championships in Oregon, Yavi settled for fourth place in 9:01.31. She is the winner of the Paris meeting (8:56.55).
Kazakhstan’s Daisy Jepkemei who won the Stockholm edition in 9:15.77 will also be in the race. She has a personal best time of 9:06.66. USA’s Emma Coburn (9:02.35) and Switzerland’s Chiara Scherrer (9:20.28) will also be in the race.
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Men’s 3000m Steeplechase (Thursday 9:31p.m EAT)
Kenyans Leonard Bett, Abraham Kibiwott, Lawrence Kipsang, Wilberforce Kones and Amos Serem will be in the race. Bett has a personal best time of 8:06.29.
Kibiwott placed fifth during the World Championships in Oregon and settled for second place in Roma. He has a personal best time of 8:05.72.
Serem is the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and has a personal best time of 8:09.93. Kipsang and Kones have personal best times of 8:11.26 and 8:21.42 respectively.
Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali will line up as one of the pre-race favorites having bagged the world and Olympic title. Bakkali is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 7:58.15. He has also maintained his winning streak in the Diamond League Meetings in Lausanne and Rabat where he placed first. Bakkali will be in the company of fellow countryman Abderrafia Bouassel who has a personal best time of 8:27.00.
Ethiopians Hailemariyam Amare and Getnet Wale will also be in the race to pit their skills against their competitors. Wale is the second fastest in the field with a personal best time of 8:05.21 while Amare has a personal best time of 8:06.29.
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Women’s 1500m (Thursday 8:59p.m EAT)
The race will be a thrilling show with Faith Kipyegon as one of the pre-race favorites. Kipyegon has had a blissful season, missing out on only one goal she had, the world title. She is a two-time world and Olympic 1500m champion. She is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 3:50.37 which she ran in Monaco.
Ethiopian quintet of Tsegay, Hirut Meshesha, Freweyni Hailu, Diribe Welteji and Axumawit Embaye will give Kipyegon a run for her money as she will be Kenya’s sole representative.
Tsegay, who will be doubling, is the second fastest in the field with a personal best time of 3:54.01. Welteji has a personal best time of 3:56.91. She won at the Kip-Keino Classic competitions in 4:01.50.
Meshesha is the winner of the Rabat edition of the Diamond League where she timed her personal best time of 3:57.30 to cross the finish line. She also won in the Rome edition (4:03.79).
Hailu has a persona best time of 3:56.28 which she ran in Brussels to settle for third place. At the World Championships, she placed fourth in 4:01.28. Embaye has a personal best time of 3:58.80.
Great Britain’s Laura Muir will also be in the line-up with a personal best time of 3:54.50. She is the third fastest in the field. She is a world 1500m bronze medallist and Olympic 1500m silver medallist.
USA’s Heather Maclean (PB time-3:58.76), Cory Ann McGee (PB time-4:00.34) and Allie Wilson (PB time-4:04.02) will also be in the race. Ireland’s Ciara Mageean has a personal best time of 3:56.63.
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Men’s 1500m (Thursday 9:10p.m EAT)
Timothy Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang will be hoping to raise Kenya’s flag high. Cheruiyot is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 3:28.28. He is the Olympic and Commonwealth Games 1500m silver medalist. Kipsang won the Kip-Keino Classic competitions in 3:31.01. He has a personal best time of 3:29.93 which he ran in Lausanne to place second.
Norway’s Jacob Ingebrigtsen will also be in the race. He is the Olympic 1500m champion and world 1500m silver medallist. He has a personal best time of 3:28.32. He competed in Lausanne and won in 3:29.05.
Australia’s Oliver Hoare has a personal best time of 3:30.12 and he is the Commonwealth Games winner. He also placed third (3:35.76) in the meeting at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. Other Australian’s in the race will be Mcsweyn Stewart and Ramsden Matthew who have personal best times of 3:29.51 and 3:34.08 respectively.
Great Britain’s Jake Heyward (PB time-3:31.08) and Josh Kerr (PB time-3:29.05) will also be competing for top honors in the race. Others in the race will be Poland’s Michal Rozmys and Morocco’s Abdellatif Sadiki.
Men’s 800m (Thursday 10:31pm. EAT)
Kenyan duo of Wycliffe Kinyamal and Emmanuel Korir will be lining up for the race. Kinyamal is a two-time Commonwealth Games winner with a personal best time of 1:43.12. Korir is a world and Olympic 800m champion. He is the fastest in the field with a personal best time of 1:42.05. Korir competed in Brussels and placed third in 1:44.12.
Great Britain’s Jake Wightman will also be in the race with a quest to finish at the podium. Wightman has a personal best time of 1:43.65. Wightman is the world 1500m champion. He also placed first in Brussels 1:43.65. He placed second in 1:44.91 at the European Championships.
Canada’s Marco Arop (1:43.26) and Poland’s Patryk Sieradzki (1:45.13) will also be in the race. France’s Benjamin Robert and Gabriel Tual have personal best times of 1:43.75 and 1:44.23 respectively.
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Women’s 800m (Thursday 10:19pm. EAT)
Mary Moraa will line up to compete against a strong field of elite athletes. Moraa is the Commonwealth Games winner and the world 800m bronze medallist. She has a personal best time of 1:56.71.
Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi, Jamaica’s Natoya Goule and Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson will be in the ace. Nakaayi has a personal best time of 1:58.03.
Halimah is the former world 800m champion with a personal best time of 1:58.03. She placed second Oslo in 1:58.70. Goule is also one to watch when the race kicks off. She has a personal best time of 1:56.15. Goule placed first at the Diamond League Meeting in Monaco in a time of 1:56.98.
Hodgkinson has a personal best time of 1:55.88. She is the world and Olympic 800m silver medalist. She also settled for second place at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She bagged gold (1:59.04) at the European Championships in Munich.
Others in the race will be Olivia Baker (1:58.05) and Sage Hurta (1:57.85) of USA, Italy’s Elena Bello (1:58.97) and Switzerland’s Lore Hoffmann (1:58.50). Renelle Lamote of France and Slovenia’s Anita Horvat have personal best times of 1:57.84 and 1:58.96 respectively.