Kenyan World champ Cheruiyot eyeing Olympic qualification on return from injury

Kenyan Cheruiyot aiming for Olympic qualification

JOHANNESBURG, May 24 (ANA) – With time running out, defending men’s 1500m world champion Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya, returning from injury, will desperately be hoping to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, and that means the pressure will be on the 2019 men’s 1500m world champion with little time left to book his spot on the Kenyan team.

Having recovered from a hamstring injury, the 25-year-old will be gunning for victory in Friday’s Diamond League athletics meeting in Doha.

In fact, it will be Cheruiyot’s first competitive outing since October 3 last year in Nairobi.

“I usually start my preparations in November but delayed until January this year owing to the left leg hamstring injury,” Cheruiyot was quoted as saying by Kenyan publication Nation Sports.

“I feel much better and I’m regaining my 2019 form slowly. I am working on my endurance on track having finished my gym sessions.”

Cheruiyot’s coach Ben Ouma said: “Doha is meant to test and see where we are in terms of shape. What we have been lacking is competition experience.

“Our ultimate prize is the Olympic gold medal, not fast times. Cheruiyot is in cognisant of that.”

Having missed out on the 2016 Rio Olympics, which Cheruiyot blamed on a cluttered racing calendar, he said he hoped to learn from his mistakes.

With Kenya’s Olympic qualifiers scheduled to take place from June 17 to 19 in Kasarani, in Nairobi, Cheruiyot believed it will be a fierce battle to make it into the Kenyan Olympic team.

“There will be pressure especially at the local trials where no one is a favourite. Previous performance doesn’t count here.” – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman