Legendary athlete to skip world championship, says decision to pave way for the upcoming athletes. Photo" The New York Times.
The Kenya Athletic and Youth Development Director Barnaba Korir has announced that world champion Eliud Kipchoge will not be competing in the world championship.
According to Korir, Kipchoge decided to skip the championship to pave way for other athletes. In his last race in 2024 at Paris, Kipchoge received a lot of criticism from Kenyans for taking part in the competition despite knowing he was not his best form
According to a report by Citizen Digital, Korir stated that the presence of Kipchoge in the races is a morale booster for many athletes, stating he was approached before he opted to skip the race.
“We asked Kipchoge if he would participate but he said he would prefer someone else to go this time round. We don’t want to pressure him although we’d have liked him to go. What many people don’t know is that his participation on the biggest stage inspires a lot of athletes. Some of these athletes are fired up when they see the greats lining up with them,” Korir said.
He however said that many athletes have shun the world championship, and opted to prepare for the upcoming major marathons. It is not the first time, as many have shifted focus to prepare in big staged marathon including Berlin, Chicago and New York, as they are scheduled after the world championship.
Korir said that the country is full of talented young athletes, which make it difficult to select for world championship, but the current selection based on who is willing.
“Kenya has many talented athletes and it is always a headache to select three from the pool. However, it depends on who is willing to participate because many athletes have already opted out,” Korir explained.
He further emphasized that the team selected to represent the country will be selected on merit of the athlete’s last performance, with no special consideration given to any of the selected team member. According to Korir the athletes performance vary, as some do well in marathons and fail in champions, or vice versa.
“We will select a team of marathoners through merit. We will use rankings and performances in different competitions from a group of those who will accept to go to the world championships. We have to factor in everything,” he stated.
Additionally the selected team will be put to national trials at Ulinzi Sports Complex, with over 150 invited and have done out-of-competition anti-doping test.
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