OSLO DL: Cheruiyot, Kipsang up against record-hunting Ingebrigtsen

Tokyo Olympics 1500m silver medalist Timothy Cheruiyot will be in action on Thursday 15 June as he lines up against a loaded field at the Oslo Diamond League (DL) leg in Oslo.

The 2019 world champion who won his last race at the Los Angeles Grand Prix in the United States, clocking 3:31.47 ahead of World Under-20 1500m champion Reynold Cheruiyot, who timed 3:32.01 and American Hobbs Kesler (3:342.61) renews rivalry with home runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Also, in the race against the Norwegian star who is out to challenge to the world record is Abel Kipsang who is yet to impress this season on the international stage.

Ingebrigtsen is fresh from a record-breaking night at the Paris Diamond League meeting where he set a new two-mile world best with a time of 7:54.10, breaking Daniel Komen’s 26-year mark.

The 22-year-old is already the world indoor 1500m record-holder and is tipped to be gunning for Hicham El Guerrouj’s long-standing world 1500m record on home soil.

Ingebrigtsen has a personal best of 3:28.32, which was set when winning Olympic gold in Tokyo two years ago. His target of 3:26.00 has survived for the past quarter of a century, having been set the record in Rome in July 1998, turning 25 next month if not broken before then.

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In addition to Cheruiyot who has a PB of 3:28.28 and Kipsang, who has a PB of 3:29.56, the home runner will face in-form Mohamed Katir who won 5000m in Florence DL in 12:52.09, Yared Nuguse who finished runners up behind him in Rabat, Commonwealth Games champion Ollie Hoare among others.

“I see it (world record) as one of the biggest challenges I am going to face in my running career, for me that’s almost impossible,” he told Citius Mag last week. However, in an interview with the Guardian he said that the record is for sure in his sights.

Katir and Cheruiyot have both beaten Ingebrigtsen over 1500m, though those losses were before Ingebrigtsen became Olympic champion in Tokyo two years ago.

In the men's 5000m race, the Kenyan duo of Ishmael Kipkirui and Cornelius Kemboi will take on a star-studded track that has the Ethiopia trio of Yomif Kejelcha, Telahun Haile Bekele, and Samuel Tefera, all of whom have run under 13 minutes this season.

Uganda's Commonwealth Games champion over the 5000m Jacob Kiplimo will also be in the mix.

With records falling in recent Diamond League events, Kenya's Magret Chelimo will perhaps attempt to go all the way in the women's 3000m.

Chelimo, the fastest among the entrants in the race (8:21.53), will be up alongside her Kenyan counterparts Beatrice Chebet, an 8:27.14 runner herself, Lillian Kasait (8:28:96), Agnes Jebet, and Caroline Nyaga who will be making her debut over the distance.