Unless he faces a gruesome capitulation or the Kenyans and Ethiopians upstage him, Jacob Kiplimo is on course for the senior men’s title at the
World Cross-country Championships next month.
The teenager is enjoying a purple patch in the cross-country season ahead of the global event in Aarhus, Denmark on March 30.
On Saturday, Kiplimo proved that he deserves the favourite tag in Aarhus after he obliterated the field at the Tororo Golf Course to win the National Cross-country title.
The 18-year-old flashed out his ‘A’ game, beating familiar foe and title holder Joshua Cheptegei to lift the senior men’s 10km race in 28 minutes and 56 seconds on a rather hot morning.
“It was fantastic,” a smiling Kiplimo would say after he peeled away from Cheptegei with about a kilometer to go, spreading his arms in awe at the finish-line.
“My focus is on winning the World title and I will go prepare for it,” beaming with confidence, Kiplimo stated.
And one will concur with his ambitions. Prior to Tororo, Kiplimo had beaten Cheptegei at the Cross Internacional de Itálica in Santiponce, Spain on January 20.
This is one of the five events Kiplimo has won on IAAF World Cross Country Permit to add to the fastest 10K time ever which he produced in Valencia, Spain on New Year’s Eve.
Beppe Picotti, the assistant to Kiplimo’s manager knows their runner can even do more.
“We believe as the first year in senior category this year, he can do really good things,” the impressed Italian said of the youngster who won junior 8km gold for Uganda’s first-ever individual gold at the World Cross-country in Kololo two years ago.
Cheptegei won’t rest though. Since capitulating in bizarre fashion to lose the senior title in Kololo, he won 10000m silver behind Mo Farah at London World Championships in 2017.
He then sealing a Commonwealth double on the Gold Coast in Australia last year. Cheptegei still has his eyes on the World title in Aarhus, as is Stella Chesang on the women’s front.
2018 National Cross-Country Championships
SENIOR WOMEN (10KM)
Stella Chesang (Police) 33:30.6
Rachael Zena Chebet (KCCA) 33:48.2
Esther Chebet (Prisons) 34:37.3
SENIOR MEN (10KM)
Jacob Kiplimo (Arua) 28:56.6
Joshua Cheptegei (Police) 29:07.2
Albert Chemutai (Arua) 29:20.3
JUNIOR WOMEN (6KM)
Sarah Chelangat (KCCA) 20:40.1
Annet Chesang (UWA) 20:49.3
Esther Chekwemoi (Police) 21:24.3
JUNIOR MEN (8KM)
Hosea Kiplangat (Arua) 23:30.7
Dan Chebet (Arua) 23:41.5
Matthew Chekwurui (Police) 23:41.7
This writer is a scribe with Daily Monitor Newspaper, a sports presenter with Radio One FM 90 and a global broadcaster based in Kampala Uganda. Follow him on Twitter:
@AllanDarren and his Facebook Page:
Darren Allan Kyeyune
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