Vivian Cheruiyot wins 10,000m event at the National Bank of Kenya National Athletics Championships
Vivian Cheruiyot, the 27-year old athlete from Kenya who specialises in long distance run, prevailed in the 10,000m contest at the National Bank of Kenya National Athletics Championships and emerged as a strong contender for the Daegu selection.
The performance the Keiyo born girl highlighted the fact that she was all set to dominate the IAAF World Athletics Championships as well, which is set to kick-off on August 27.
Known to be a veteran runner, Cheruiyot has had the privilege of representing Kenya at the 2000 and 2008 edition of the Summer Olympics. In 2007, she won a silver medal winner in a 5km run at the World Championships in Athletics. The strenuous runner, who
is believed to be a perfectionist on the track, marked a gold wining finish at the World Championships in 2009.
Currently, Cheruiyot holds the Kenyan and Commonwealth record for 5000m, the distance she specialises in, with a clocked time of fourteen minutes and 22.51 seconds. These records were set in 2007 while finishing-off just behind Meseret Defar, who had marked
a world record.
As expected, the second day of the event had a greater number of well-known names who had sustained themselves in the event after their successful finishes on the first day of the competitions. Prominent performers striving hard to get their names entered
in the final list of the runners for the IAAF Athletics World Championships in Daegu, were David Rudisha, Asbel Kiprop, Mark Mutai, and Silas Kiplagat. On the women’s side, spectators saw Grace Wanjiru and Cheruiyot dominating the field.
Cheruiyot, who is equally impeccable in the 5000m and 10,000m runs, is being named as an athlete who has the potential for grabbing top positions on the podiums for both of the disciplines. If she manages to achieve the feat, it would carve out a new history
for the country as no athlete has set the mark before. Her start in Nairobi clearly shows that she is aiming for big titles in both middle distance competitions.
For a 5000m meet, the affable runner had always been a pre-favourite for the fields she appears in. She has been a victor at the African championships, Diamond races, has bagged the Commonwealth title and also a gold medal at the Berlin event. Her recent
success at the 10,000m shows that she has also been training herself for the respective distance this time. This of course will not be good news for her competitors, but it will certainly add to the charm of the Daegu event for her spectators.
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