Consenslus, El Bakkali to renew rivalry in Rabat

Kenya’s two-time steeplechase world champion and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Conseslus Kipruto begins his 2023 season in Rabat as he renews rivalry with Moroccan world champion Soufiane El Bakkali in Rabat.

International rivalries will be renewed in Rabat when some of the sport’s biggest stars compete in the second Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season on Sunday 28 May.

Jacobs pulls out of Rabat Diamond League showdown

Kipruto won bronze in Oregon after posting 8:27.92, behind winner El Bakkali and Ethiopia's Lameck Girman, who ran away with gold and silver respectively. The Kenyan star had been out of action for two years and was happy to have bagged bronze despite failing to defend his world title.

El Bakkali, also opening his season in steeplechase, will hope to put on a show in his first 3000m steeplechase race since the Diamond League Final in Zurich last year.

The reigning Olympic champion was among the five finalists for the Men’s World Athlete of the Year honor in 2022, a year in which he became world champion, won the Diamond League title and remained unbeaten.

Among his winning performances was the 7:58.28 world lead he set in Rabat, his second-quickest ever time behind the 7:58.15 Personal Best (PB) he recorded in Monaco in 2018.

Speaking ahead of the World Athletics Awards in December, El Bakkali again voiced his career goal of breaking the world record of 7:53.63 that was set by Saif Saaeed Shaheen (formerly Stephen Cherono) in 2004.

Whether he goes for it on Sunday or uses the event more to test his steeplechase form after a 3000m PB of 7:33.87 in Doha, the certainty is that he won’t want to lose on home soil.

Omanyala confirms third Diamond League meeting in Paris

Looking to challenge the two will be Ethiopia’s world and Olympic fourth-place finisher Getnet Wale as well as Kenya’s Commonwealth Games champion Abraham Kibiwot and Leonard Bett, who finished second and third respectively at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Nairobi earlier this month.

Additional reporting by World Athletics