Middle-distance runners in action (© Getty Images)
Between them, Kenya and Ethiopia have taken the boys’ 3000m gold medal at every IAAF World Youth Championships since the event’s inauguration in 1999 and 19 of the 24 medals on offer. In Cali, it will come as a major surprise if their dominance is halted.
Kenya’s team is led by Davies Kiplangat, whose best of 7:53.6 came when winning the Kenyan youth trials in Nairobi in April. A close runner-up that day with 7:53.7 was Richard Kimunyan Yator and he will renew his rivalry with Kiplangat in Cali.
Yator is slightly faster than Kiplangat this year, having run 7:53.3 in Nairobi last month, but has been beaten twice by him already this season.
The Kenyan duo will have their hands full with a trio of athletes from arch-rivals Ethiopia, who will choose two from the trio of Abanyeh Degu, Tefera Mosisa and Adisu Tesfahun.
Whoever claims the title, they have big shoes to fill. After winning gold in Donetsk two years ago, reigning champion Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia has gone on to considerable success against the seniors, taking wins against the world’s best over 5000m at the IAAF Diamond League meetings in both Rome and Eugene this season.
Cathal Dennehy for the IAAF
