Kenya's Kimeli seeks conquest at Africa Cross country event

NAIROBI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Mathew Kimeli is hopeful his consistent good performance in the local series will secure him a slot in the country's team for the Africa Cross Country Championships in Chlef, Algeria.

The 19-year-old has showed great skills since he graduated to the senior cadre and will be a great prospect for Kenya in Algeria taking over the shoes of Geoffrey Kamworor, the World Cross Country champion, who will skip the event.

He easily won the senior men's 10km at the fourth Athletics Kenya Cross Country meeting in Iten on Saturday and believes he will shine at the national trials in February to claim a slot in the Kenya team.

"Cross country is a tough competition for Kenyan athletes because every day, somebody new emerges who seizes the opportunity to star. I have taken my chances and hope it will be enough to secure me a slot in the team," said Kimeli on Tuesday.

He is one of coach Colm O'Connell's newest proteges and looks at Olympic champion David Rudisha as his mentor. Rudisha was also trained by the Irish coach.

Kimeli came to prominence during the track season when he finished a close second to Mo Farah in the 10,000m at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in a personal best time of 27:14.43 just four days after competing at the Kenyan Trials where he just missed out on a place on the team for the IAAF World Championships in sixth.

The 19-year-old transferred that form onto the roads with some fast times in European circuit posting 27:11 at the Prague Grand Prix. He is now showing what he can do at cross country.

Kimeli is yet to represent Kenya internationally but he could challenge for a place on the team for the African Cross Country Championships in Chlef, Algeria in March after winning at the Iten Grounds in 28:57 ahead of Erick Kiptanui (29:07) and Daniel Kipchumba (29:10). Enditem