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✳ 10.20pm – 3000m SC Albert Chemutai 🇺🇬
✳ 11.05pm – 1500m Winnie Nanyondo 🇺🇬
✳ 11.23pm – 5000m Joshua Cheptegei 🇺🇬
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & URN | Long distance ace Joshua Cheptegei is confident he will beat the Wanda Diamond League meet record today as he continues his build up to the Olympics.
The Ugandan 5000m World record holder (12:35:36) will aim to run better than Eliud Kipchoge’s 12:46.53 17 years ago. “I think the meeting record will be in danger,” Cheptegei said on the eve of the race set for Stadio Luigi Ridolfi in Florence, Italy.
The long distance runner will be racing for the first time since his 3000m record attempt in Ostrava three weeks ago in Czech Republic. He will be making his first Diamond League appearance of the 2021 season.
Cheptegei said he has done enough preparation and feels his body is in much better shape compared to the situation in Ostrava. The star athlete and world 5,000m and 10,000m record holder said he is targeting to run a year best.
“I think the meeting record will be in danger tomorrow”@joshuacheptege1 ahead of the 5000m at #FlorenceDL#DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/ZpvdWVAXVR
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) June 9, 2021
The athlete however said he anticipates competition from the Canadian long distance runners and Ethiopian runners. Cheptegei will compete alongside Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Mohamed Katir.
Cheptegei, who broke the world record at the Monaco Diamond League last year, begins his Diamond League title charge at the Italian meeting on June 10th.
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This is the third Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season.
The 2021 Wanda Diamond League comprises 14 meetings and started with Gateshead (which replaced Rabat as the first host city on this year’s circuit) on Sunday 23 May.
A single final will be held across two days in Zurich at the end of the season (8/9 September). Each meeting will be broadcast globally in a live two-hour programme.
The 2021 calendar remains subject to change depending on the global health situation in the coming months.
