Chebet maintains modesty ahead of World Championships in Budapest

World 5000m silver medalist Beatrice Chebet says she will be happy to be on the podium at the World Athletics Championships set for Budapest in August.

The world cross-country champion is expected to line up in the women’s 5000m against a world-class field and while she is aiming for the title, she maintains that a podium would be good. 

“I will be happy if I place on the podium this year in Budapest, although my main aim, which I know should be the same for all the runners who will be at the World Championships, is the gold medal,” Chebet told World Athletics. “However, I will be thankful for any medal I get there.”

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Chebet has had a successful year so far, winning the senior women’s race and leading the Kenyan squad to the team title at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst.

On track, she started her season on a high, winning the 5000m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on 13 May.

Luckily for the 23-year-old, she already booked her ticket to Budapest by virtue of winning the Diamond League title in 2022 and the qualification process is not part of her headache. She would, however, hope to make Team Kenya first.

Chebet believes that the Ethiopian runners and some of her Kenyan compatriots are likely to be her main rivals. 

Defending champion, who won the 5000m title in a close race ahead of Chebet in Oregon, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, compatriot Letesenbet Gidey, the world record-holder who had looked on course to beat Chebet to the world cross country title in Bathurst before she fell in the closing stages are expected to offer the biggest challenge for Chebet. 

While the rest of her 2023 racing calendar is yet to be confirmed, Chebet, who has a 5000m PB of 14:34.55 that she ran at the Oslo Diamond League in 2021, will be hoping to remain a strong presence in the 12-and-a-half lap discipline this year.

“My training is going on well,” she told World Athletics. “I am working hard and praying to God for good health and that everything else goes well. In my races this year, I will watch and hope to see continuous progress. I know all will go well with good training.”

Chebet won her first gold medal at the World Athletics U-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. 

She went on to win the African U-20 title in 2019 and the African senior title last year in Mauritius, before she claimed her silver medal at the World Championships in Oregon and gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Additional information by World Athletics