Elite athletes target course record

Less than 48 hours from the start of the elite race of the TCS World 10K run, the top-3 contenders in both the men’s and women’s categories appeared a bit uncomfortable under the media gaze at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Friday.

But come Sunday morning - Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli (Kenya), Sebastian Sawe (Kenya) and Stephen Kissa (Uganda) in the men’s section and Jesca Chelangat (Kenya), Vicoty Chepnngeno (Kenya) and Tsehay Gemechu (Ethiopia) in the women’s section - will be their confident selves while competing against each other for a top spot in which the organisers claimed the richest 10K event in the world.

The winner in both the categories will take home a cheque of $26,000. Shattering the course record holds an incentive of $8,000.

“It wasn’t easy to win last year. And expect tough competition this year too,” said Kimeli, the men’s defending champion and holder of the course record which he created last year with a timing of 27.38 seconds.

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“However, I have prepared well to defend my title. The top contenders are all my friends and we will fight for the title. But I will be happy irrespective of whoever wins the race on Sunday,” added the 24-year-old.

He was referring to the rivalry he shares with compatriot and friend Sawe, who defeated him to take the gold by setting a new personal best and the fifth-fastest road 10K time when he won the Adizero Road to Record 10K in Germany last month.

As for Kissa, a pace runner at the event way back in 2017, on his second visit to the city will be looking to outrun the Kenyans. A third place finish in the 2020 Delhi half marathon adds to his experience of running in the Indian conditions.

Coming from Kenya where the mornings are currently cold, the favorite to win the women’s race, Chelangat, feels the warm weather in the city in the past few days will favour her chances of winning the gold.

If the weather seems to be on the 25-year-old’s side, her compatriot Chepnngeno and the youngest of the top guns in fray, Gemechu, are sure to make things difficult for Chelangat.

“This is my first 10K race of the season and my preparations have been good. Though my focus has been marathons, I have done a lot of speed training to get ready for this race,” said 24-year-old Gemechu, who has the eighth fastest time in the women’s marathon after clocking 2:16.56 to finish runner-up in the Tokyo Marathon in March this year.

The elite 10K race will have 57 men and 41 women runners.