Updated 8 hr(s) 8 min(s) ago
After enjoying a successful career that has seen her win almost all the accolades over the 1, 500m distance, Olympic champion Nancy Jebet Langat is missing just one medal in her rich collection, the World Championship title.
Until the 2008 Beijing Olympics, very few had knowledge of the extend Langat’s sprints could take her. Branded the lone wolf in the Kenyan team, the Africa champion proved she could bite when she sprinted away in the final 200m at the Bird’s Nest Stadium to win the gold medal for Kenya.
Just like in 2008, Lagat has not had a glorious build up this year and is keen to add another jewel to her collection during the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea from August 27 to September 4. Langat won the 800m World Junior Championships title in 2,000, sparking a successful career that saw her bag the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing, the World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki in 2009, Africa Championships in 2010 and the Commonwealth Games double – in 1, 500m and the 800m – but the World Championships title has eluded her.
“I am sure Daegu will be very competitive, but I have what it takes to weather the storm. I have been training hard since joining camp three weeks ago and my body has really responded well to the training,” said Langat.
In 2009, the Olympic champion failed to reach the finals of the 1, 500m race at the World Championships in Berlin after being knocked out in the semi-finals, but she is confident of making amends this year.
“I need a World Championships gold medal in my title collections and I’m optimistic I would get it this time round, depending on how I wake up on the day of the final race. But you must realise that the championships are very different compared how one runs other races. at the moment, however, my focus is on making it to the semi-finals first before I start thinking of the finals.
In Berlin I was unlucky not to reach the finals, because I had an injury, but I hope I will make amends in Daegu,” said Langat.
The Olympic champion believes that Kenya has entered a strong team for the global event, tipping her colleagues to give her a run for her money.
The other members in the four-lap race for Kenya are national champion Hellen Obiri and Viola Kibiwot. They will, however, meet stiff competition from World Champion Maryam Jamal of Bahrain, England’s Lisa Dobriskey and Shannon Rowbury of the USA.
“We have a good team to the World Championships and we will run as a team. it would be marvellous if we all make it to the final,” Langat said.
Langat, who had a slight knee injury after the Commonwealth in India, has shrugged off any worries about it healing in time for the World Championships. After running a season best time of 4:03 at the Rome Diamond League on May 26, she can only aim for a better time in Daegu, maybe a sub four minutes for the first time.
Meanwhile, in the women 800m race, World 800m silver medallist Janeth Jepkosgei has tipped her training partner Eunice Sum to steal the limelight at the World Championship in Daegu.
Sum, is the latest talent off the Kenyan production line and will be teaming up with former World Youth champion Cherono Koech in the two lap race. Caster Semenya of South Africa is the defending champion.
Jepkosgei, will be leading from the front as she seeks to reclaim the title she won last in Osaka in 2007.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRDgVGHB6eM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0]
<a href="http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000041025&cid=39&j=&m=&d=tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000041025″>Daegu gold is mine