Kipchoge discusses track races as Mo Farah lands in Iten

World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge (right) prepares to take part in a training session with other athletes in Eldoret on January 14, 2020. 

Despite the country’s embarrassment of riches in distance running, it’s a bizarre fact that Kenya has won the Olympic gold medal only once each in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres races.

Naftali Temu minted the sole gold in the longer distance way back at the Mexico Olympics in 1968, clocking 29 minutes, 27.4 seconds to relegate Ethiopia’s Mamo Wolde and Tunisian Mohamed Gammoudi to the smaller medals.

In the 5,000m, John Ngugi accounts for Kenya’s lone Olympic gold in the distance, his victory (13:11.70) at the 1988 Seoul Games beating Germans (West and East, respectively) Deiter Baumann and Hansjorg Kunze to the top prize.

 And these eerie statistics worry Olympic marathon champion and world record holder Eliud Kipchoge who is concerned that young Kenyan runners are showing no respect for track and field and, instead, are in too much of a hurry to hit the roads.

Kipchoge has called on more focus on the track races, his appeal coming as Great Britain’s multiple world and Olympic track champion Mo Farah launches his final pre-season training in Iten, keen on defending his Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m double at the Tokyo Games this summer.

“Sir Mo” arrived in the Elgeyo-Marakwet County capital earlier this week to spruce himself up for a return to the track after briefly “hibernating” in the marathon where he has an impressive personal best time of 2:05:11 to show, eked out of the 2018 Chicago Marathon.

“It’s good for (Kenyan) athletes to be more serious on the track, and specifically in the 5,000m and 10,000m,” Kipchoge told Nation Sport in an exclusive, mid-week interview at his NN Running Team/Global Sports Communication training camp in Kaptagat.