Kenyan Chepkoech has her work cut out in women’s steeplechase in Doha

Kenyan Chepkoech work cut out Doha Diamond League

JOHANNESBURG, May 27 (ANA) – Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech will face a stern test in the women’s 3000m steeplechase on Friday in Doha, Qatar, in the  Wanda Diamond League meeting.

The women’s steeplechase features the top five finishers from the World Championships, led by a world champion and world record-holder Chepkoech.

Beatrice Chepkoech hasn’t contested a steeplechase so far this year, but the Kenyan has shown great form on flat events, clocking a world 5km record of 14:43 in February, followed three days later by an indoor 3000m Personal Best (PB) of 8:31.72.

The two women who preceded Chepkoech as world champion – USA’s Emma Coburn and Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng – are also in the lineup, along with world bronze medallist Gesa Felicitas Krause, Asian champion Winfred Yavi, Ugandan record-holder Peruth Chemutai and sub-nine-minute performer Norah Jeruto.

Meanwhile, Kenyan distance duo Timothy Cheruiyot and Hellen Obiri struck gold in Doha two years ago and will be aiming to come out on top again this weekend.

Obiri will contest the women’s 3000m, the event she won at last year’s Doha Diamond League meeting, and she’ll be up against world 5000m silver medallist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi and 2017 world cross-country bronze medallist Lilian Rengeruk. All three Kenyan women have set their 3000m PBs in Doha.

While Cheruiyot has dominated the 1500m on the Wanda Diamond League circuit in recent years, he has yet to win at the Doha meeting. He hopes to rectify that on Friday, though, when he takes on the lines of Australian record-holder Stewart McSweyn, world indoor champion Samuel Tefera, Ugandan record-holder Ronald Musagala and world indoor 3000m bronze medallist Bethwell Birgen. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman