Danger looms as other countries battle to dislodge Kenyans from ‘traditional’ races

World Athletics Championships – women’s 3000 metres steeplechase heats – London Stadium, London, Britain – August 9, 2017 – Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi of Kenya, Fadwa Sidi Madane of Morocco and Purity Cherotich Kirui of Kenya compete. REUTERS

Kenya is no doubt the world’s athletics superpower. But the six-decade dominance is under threat in major championships.

The men’s 3,000 steeplechase — often billed as ‘Made in Kenya for Kenyans’ — has been on a sliding trend despite the country basking in three podium sweeps at worlds in 1997, 2007, and 2015, when Ezekiel Kemboi orchestrated the historic 1-2-3-4 sweep.

The rain started beating Kenyans when Qatari’s Saif Saaeed Shaheen, formerly Stephen Cherono, struck gold in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005 —becoming the first non-Kenyan to win the race.

Kenya has won every edition of the championships since 1987 apart from Shaheen’s victory for Qatar in 2003 and 2005.

Frenchman Mahiedine Mekhisi-Benabbad emerged from obscurity to snatch silver medals in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

He kept on ruining Kenyan podium sweeps in the 2011 and 2013 World Championships as well as Rio Olympics, settling for bronze medals.

Then the nightmare of America’s Olympic silver medallist Evan Jager, whose victory in the IAAF Diamond League in Monaco in 8:01.29 is the fastest time this season, complicated the Kenyan equation as he settled for bronze in London.

Jager said via Instagram: “I never would have thought that I’d ever be a little disappointed with earning a bronze medal at the World Championships. After having a few days to think about it I’m happy but not nearly satisfied.

“I’m so happy that I’ve been fortunate enough to get to this point in my career but I’m still hungry. Statistics of the year: America won more steeplechase medals than Kenya at the 2017 World Championships. Incredible.”

Kenya lost the women’s 3,000m steeplechase title to America’s Emma Coburn, the Olympic bronze medallist, while her teammate Courtney Frerichs settled for silver, leaving defending champion Hyvin Kiyeng to settle for bronze.

A huge challenge lurks in men’s 5,000m, where Kenya has performed below par in the past 12 years.

The Rio Olympics exhibited the worst performance since 1960, where no Kenyan sailed to the finals.

And coach Bernard Ouma, who was in charge of middle distance in London, said: “Running requires periodic long-term planning with a good programme tailored for endurance.

“We currently don’t have good 5,000m athletes simply because most athletes in this race prepare themselves physically for road races, which needs a lot of endurance but still the speed required for 5,000m.

“The best 5,000m runners are those who transited from 1,500m.

"Asbel Kiprop and Timothy Cheruiyot can emerge as the best 5,000m runners for Kenya, watch out.

"Asbel just needs to start Commonwealth preparation early and I can assure he will be the man to beat in Gold Coast, Australia, next April,” said Ouma.

Kenya has not won men’s 10,000m gold since 2001. Ethiopia and Britain’s Mo Farah have ruled the roost and it remains to be seen if Kenya can reverse the trend come the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Former Kenyans Rose Chelimo (Bahrain) and Paul Chelimo (USA) won medals for their adopted nations.

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