By Bob Ramsak
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Two of Kenya’s five Olympic gold medalists top the bill for tomorrow’s Athletissima Super Grand Prix in Lausanne.
Perennial speedster Wilfred Bungei used his vast experience to take the 800m title in Beijing, first by surviving the brutal heats and semi-finals with aggressive front-running, and repeating that strategy in the final to capture his first major title. He led a Kenyan 1-3 finish, with world champion Alfred Kirwa Yego taking the bronze. Both top the fields here in Lausanne.
It will be Bungei’s first race since his Olympic triumph, while Yego arrives after a career best 3:33.69 from the Zurich 1500m on Friday. Olympic 1500m silver medallist Asbel Kiprop will also drop down in distance in a field that also includes Beijing finalist Nadjim Manseur of Algeria.
With her commanding 1500m victory, Nancy Jebet Lagat produced one of the biggest surprises of the Games, and here she will make her first appearance over the distance since that upset. The 27-year-old was sluggish in Zurich on Friday, where she finished last in the 800m, leaving this a wide open affair. In another reunion of Olympic finalist, Briton Lisa Dobriskey (fourth in Beijing), reigining world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal (fifth), American Shannon Rowbury (seventh), Russian Anna Alminova (11th) and Btissam Lakhouad (12th) are also on the slate.
The men’s 1500 features Kenyan Haron Keitany, who has made a splash in his first year on the international circuit. The winner at May’s African championships, the 24-year-old finished a strong runner-up in Oslo’s Dream Mile, took fourth at the Kenyan trials to barely miss a berth to the Olympics, and took a commanding victory in Zurich on Friday.
Olympic finalist Belal Mansoor Ali, third in Zurich, and Yusuf Saad Kamel, the 800m specialist who produced a 3:33.11 personal best in Zurich, are also in the race, as are 2008 speedsters Daniel Kipchirchir Komen and Shadrack Korir, both sub 3:32.00 this season.
World 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei will receive a reprieve for an evening, not having to face her superstar compatriot Pamela Jelimo for the first time in awhile. She’ll take on Russian Svetlana Klyuka, fourth in Beijing, as well as three other Olympic finalists: Jamaican Kenia Sinclair, Ukraine’s Yuliya Krevsun, and Russian tatiana Andrianova. Jepkosgei won here in 2006, while Sinclair returns as defending champion.
[Photos: Pamela Jelimo and Kenenisa Bekele meet with reporters in Zurich. MANDATORY CREDIT: Bob Ramsak/Race Results Weekly]
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