Kipsang upsets the odds – Men’s Junior Race Report – Punta Umbria 2011

Punta Umbria – Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor was nobody’s favourite to win the IAAF World Cross Country Championships Junior race, after finishing fourth at his own national trials last month, but the 18-year-old Kenyan showed what a difference a month of dedicated preparation can make with a stunning display of gun-to-tape front running.

Kipsang crossed the line after 8km of hard running in 22.21. Course variations have to be taken into account but cross country aficionados in the Spanish resort town were soon talking about it being the most impressive victory by a junior man since Kenenisa Bekele won a decade ago in 2001.

Straight to the front

He sped away from the gun with his arms pumping like a 400m runner and went through the first 2km at the head of a 14-man group in a swift 5:22. The prevailing thought was that he was making the pace for some of the men behind him, notably his team-mate Isiah Kiplangat Koech, who had run World junior indoor bests over 3000m and 5000m last month before going on to win the Kenya trials race in Nairobi.

However, it was soon clear that Kipsang had other ideas.

“I knew I was in great shape at the training camp and I was just feeling very confident. I decided to just run as hard as I could from the front. I knew there was a danger I might run out of energy but I felt I had a good chance of the gold medal,” said the 18-year-old from the tiny Chepkorio village.

He later revealed that unlike at many previous Championships there had been no team tactics issued by the Kenyan team coaches.

After the brutally fast start, the pace eased slightly on the second of four laps, which was covered in 5:41, but it was enough to run the legs off some of the men chasing him and the pack – containing four Kenyans, four Ethiopians and the lone Ugandan Thomas Ayeko – was reduced to nine men at the halfway point.

Going through the gears

Kipsang then put in a noticeable burst of acceleration in the early stages of the third lap which spread out his rivals.

Ethiopia’s Bonsa Dida tried to hang to stay on Kipsang’s shoulder but later paid for his efforts while Ayeko slipped back a couple of paces and was running comfortably in third place while Patrick Mutunga and Koech were in fourth and fifth respectively, each a stride further back.

However, Kipsang found another gear about a kilometre from home to shake off his challengers and he continued to wind up the pace as the line approached to make sure there were no surprises in the finishing straight.

“I finished fourth in the Kenyan trials but I was taking that race carefully as I knew that this was the important race. The Kenyan trials are hard but I wanted to conserve some energy, and so I ran just to make the team,” added Kipsang, reflecting on the fact that he had arrived in Spain a little below the radar.

Behind Kipsang, both Ayeko and Mutunga went past the flagging Dida in the final kilometre to take the silver and bronze medals respectively, the latter only on the Kenyan team as an after-thought by the selectors after finishing sixth in the Kenyan trials.

Lucky 13 for Kenya

Kenya filled the first four places in the junior men’s race in Bydgoszcz 12 months ago but this time around they couldn’t quite manage perfect score and had to settle for getting their scoring quartet in the top 10 to take their 13th successive title in the category with 20 points.