Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist Faith Cherotich is bracing for a blockbuster clash in Doha on May 16, where she will renew rivalry with Olympic gold medallist Winfred Yavi of Bahrain.
Doha Diamond League will mark the third leg of the circuit, which has already been to China in Xiamen and Shanghai.
After thrilling head-to-head battles throughout 2024, the duo will reignite their steeplechase rivalry in the Qatari capital, with all eyes on who will land the early-season psychological edge.
Cherotich will head into the Doha showdown buoyed by her victory when the two last clashed at the Brussels Diamond League final in September 2024, which saw the 20-year-old clinch her first finals trophy.
Cherotich clocked 9:02.36 to claim victory with Yavi (9:02.87) and Chemutai (9:07.60) trailing behind. However, before the Brussels meet, Yavi had bested her in back-to-back outings.
Their first meeting of the 2024 season was at the ultimate athletics stage—the Paris Olympics—where Yavi stormed to gold in 8:52.76, narrowly ahead of Uganda's Peruth Chemutai (8:53.34), with Cherotich claiming a well-earned bronze in 8:55.15.
Yavi reinforced her dominance at the Rome Golden Gala weeks later, running 8:44.39 to beat Chemutai (8:48.03) and Cherotich (8:57.65).
Their rivalry stretches back to the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, where Yavi clinched the title in 8:54.29 ahead of Beatrice Chepkoech (8:58.98) and Cherotich (9:00.69), who claimed her first global senior medal.
Cherotich has already opened her 2025 campaign with a low-key 5,000m race at the Athletics Kenya track and field weekend meeting in March.
She clocked 16:20.3 to win her heat and place fifth overall at the Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex. The race served as a stamina-building tune-up for her steeplechase season.
Meanwhile, Yavi is yet to race this year, but she is expected to line up fresh and fired-up for their season debuts in Doha. However, as they head to Doha, Yavi is targeting not just victory but history.
The Bahraini star narrowly missed the world record last year in Rome and has declared her intent to chase the 8:44.32 mark set by Chepkoech.
“I am always looking for opportunities to run faster and win more. When I ran my personal best in Rome last year, I was a little bit disappointed not to break the world record because I thought it was possible."
"I’ve been working very hard over the winter, and I believe it will happen at some point," Yavi told the Doha meeting organisers. Her main goal for this year is to successfully defend her World title.
"To
win gold in Tokyo and successfully defend my world title is my main
goal for this year, but I want to run fast and set a high standard when I
open my Diamond League season in Doha.
Conditions are good in Qatar,
and when the crowd get behind us, anything is possible."
Also
in contention in Doha is Uganda's Chemutai—the 2020 Olympic
champion—who has also had scintillating clashes with Cherotich in 2024.
Their first clash was at the Xiamen Diamond League in April, edging her for second place in 9:05.49 with the Ugandan third in 9:12.99.
World record holder Chepkoech claimed victory in 8:55.40. The
Ugandan hit back weeks later at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene,
running 8:55.09 for victory, with Chepkoech and Cherotich chasing in
8:56.51 and 9:04.45 respectively.
