Florence field has no flowers for Cheptegei
For Joshua Cheptegei, every race counts and the results are measured to the dot.
His profile is too big to veer away from any pinch of attention. Tonight, the two-time world 10000m champion will launch his outdoor season business on track in Italy.
Cheptegei is inevitably the lead face in a field of 18 men set for the 5000m for Golden Gala in Florence, a leg of the Wanda Diamond League (DL).
The race is a build-up for Cheptegei as he bids to complete an iconic hat-trick of 10000m titles come the Budapest World Athletics Championships in the Hungarian capital in August.
“It’s a good test to see how the level is at the moment in a strong field,” said Cheptegei’s coach Addy Ruiter.
The 26-year-old runner has not competed on track in almost a year, from actually 10 months ago when he came ninth in the 5000m final at the Oregon Worlds in Eugene, USA. Read more