Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist Faith Cherotich is set to headline the fourth leg of the Athletics Kenya (AK) track and field meeting this weekend at the newly refurbished Afraha Stadium.
This will be the first leg of the AK series to be contested on a tartan track, following a major face-lift that saw Afraha’s murram surface replaced with a modern blue tartan.
AK Nakuru region treasurer and former athlete, David Otiti, expressed excitement over the return of elite athletics to Nakuru.
“It’s a great opportunity for athletes to test their shape as they gear up for major international competitions, including the Tokyo World Championships in September,” he said.
Cherotich, making her season debut in the steeplechase, will be featuring in only her second race of the 2025 season.
The 20-year-old opened her season with a 5,000m race on March 15 during the third AK leg at the Eliud Kipchoge Sports Complex, where she clocked 16:20.3 for fifth place.
Maurine Chebor (15:40.1), Cynthia Chepkurui (15:47.8) and Janet Chepkemoi (15:55.0) took the podium spots. She will be keen to sharpen her form ahead of her second appearance at the World Championships.
Cherotich made her global breakthrough at the 2023 Budapest World Championships, bagging bronze in 9:00.69 behind Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi (8:54.29) and world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech (8:58.98).
She followed it up with another bronze at the Paris Olympics, clocking 8:55.15 behind Yavi (8:52.76) and Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai (8:53.34), Cherotich capped off her season in style by winning the Diamond League final in Brussels in 9:02.36, edging out Yavi (9:02.87) and Chemutai (9:07.60).
Meanwhile, African U20 1,500m champion Reynold Cheruiyot will test his speed over 800m as he finetunes for the Diamond League circuit.
“I want to gauge my speed in the 800m,” Cheruiyot said. Following the Nakuru meeting, Cheruiyot will shift focus to the Diamond League circuit with his first stop in Doha on May 16.
“After that I will shift focus to the 5,000m in Doha. It will be a tough test, but I plan to use it to build endurance for the long season,” Cheruiyot said.
After Doha, Cheruiyot will compete in Rabat, the Kip Keino Classic and Oslo. The men’s 800m will be a hotly contested affair, featuring 2021 World U20 1,500m champion Vincent Keter and 2022 World Indoor silver medallist Noah Kibet, both of whom are doubling in the 1,500m as well as the 2023 African champion Aaron Cheminingwa.
In the women’s middle-distance races, World U20 800m champion Sarah Moraa will be looking to stamp her authority.
Olympic steeplechase bronze medallist Abraham Kibiwot is set to feature in the 5,000m as he seeks to build endurance for the season.
Kibiwot opened his 2025 campaign at the AK National Cross Country Championships, where he finished 17th in the 2km loop race in 6:38.
He later competed at the Sirikwa Classic World Cross Country Tour, placing 35th in the 10km senior race with a time of 31:42.
