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Korir sweats on form as Kenya eyes Guiyang World Cross

Xinhua, March 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenya's World Cross Country champion Japheth Korir is sweating over his fitness as the selectors make their choice of who will make the final cut for the Kenya team.

Korir, 22, is among the seven who are eyeing the ticket to Guiyang, China for the World Cross Country championships on March 28.

Only six athletes out of the seven will make the team, and Korir faces the battle of his life having been drafted in the team through the coaches' wild card as the defending champion.

"It is not easy to come here and prove your point. I had worked hard ahead of the trials but I had a bad day at the national trials," he said from Eldoret on Tuesday.

"Finishing number 48 for me was the lowest in my career. But when they recalled me to camp, I had to prove myself and we face a race on Friday to do just that," said Korir.

Korir will be battling it out with World Half Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor, Bedan Karoki, Moses Mukono, Bernard Barsoton, Philip Langat and Joseph Kiptum.

"They are all strong now. We are trying to build a team and not individual athletes. But as you know they are more than the required number and one has to be axed," said team manager Paul Kibiwott.

"As a defending champion, the selectors wanted to give him a chance just like they did with Emily Chebet. I do not know if he will make the cut," said Coach Sammy Rono.

The team is in residential camp in Kigari, Embu Town and will be departing for Guiyang on March 24 where they expect to defend their top position against strong challenge from Ethiopia, Uganda, Eritrea, USA and host China.

Athletics Kenya (AK) officials will visit the camp on Wednesday and hope to come up with the final team. With seven athletes in the senior men's 12km race, AK must axe the extra man to have six to be entered for the national team.

The IAAF rule allows a country to enter eight athletes but only six will compete while the top four will score.

Korir, who stunned the world by becoming the youngest world cross-country champion in 2013 when he was 20, said he was ready to stage a good show if granted a lifeline to Guiyang.

"I will give it my best if I get selected to the team," said Korir, who won gold in the last championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in 2013.

About 550 runners from over 65 countries will be battling for honor in Guiyang. Kenya and Ethiopia are the most successful countries in the history of World Cross Championships winning 120 of the 159 available team titles. Endite