Will they pull it off this year?
Will they pull it off this year?
florence kiplagat last year.
Hard to tell.Firstly i do not think they have strong individual atheletes that can be rellied upon when under pressure.They are suggesting that ebuya is a strong athelete but i disagree,i think he was lucky to beat Bekel in january.Secondly,they have a new coach,who lacks the expirience to steer the team to glory .In factit is possible they have over-trained.Thirdly ,they are still using the same old sytem which time and again has been proven to be in effective i.e it over-trains athletes and basically messes up with their peak-fitness.Forthly the Ethipians and the Ugandans have some superb atheletes who have been quietly preparing.Therefore if iam to bet money.I wouldn't bet on a kenyan even though i admire their atheletes alot.
Wimmins dont count
WXC is not a major so who cares ? The Kenyans don't either.
You are wrong;the kenyans care.Ask Shaheen why he defected to Qatar and he will tell you the no 1 reason is because he found it difficua;t to qualify for WXC due to the level ofcompetition in kenya.Kenyns are crazy about atheltics.I was in nairobi last weekend and was partying at a very exclussive restuarant but was able to get the news of Tedese's WR and Gebs tribualyions in NYC even befire it was prineted in Newspapers and this was in the midst of a full crae of tusker.LOL!
WXC never was a major and WXC is still not a major. Only the Summer O's and Outdoor WC's are majors. Stupidly there's no major this year !
kenyan runners are in it for the money, which comes from road racing and the golden league meets, not from XC, so all the top guys gravitate towards those scenes (there is $30,000 for the winner but its the hardest race in the world to win, so not easy money). If in shape gebremariam will be hard to bet against with a gold and a silver to his name, or perhaps Kipsiro. Will be interesting to see how abshero does, as his track times arent spectacular, but that was the same before Amman too. Ebuya peaked too early, no way he will win.
My tip for a Ritzesque performance in the junior race is Sondre Nordstad Moen of Norway, for if the course is super muddy. Also watch out for Richard Goodman of GBR who was 5th at Euro xc last year age 16. And Tom Farell who ran a 7.58 3k in the US this winter.
Actually i think the kenyans have a very good chance of winning this year.Gebremariam is awesome on his best orm but i suspect that he trained focussing on NYC half instead of WXC and the ethiopian federation forced him to go for WXC after Bekele had a last minute change of heart.Kipsiro is not in the sort of shape hewas inlast year going into world cross.Ebuya did not peak early,remember he was 3rd in kenyan trials i.e the best position he has ever attained in trials ever.This was only 3 weeks ago.Leonard Komon is the dark horse;he runs very well on mud and tough courses plus he tends to peak for WXC.No one knows about Paul Tanui well enough but i reckon he is awesome .The Kenyans however will not be able to beat Dibaba in the womens side.This is because it will simply come down to a sprint finish as usual and dibaba cannot be outsprinted.I would also give the ethiopin the female junior race.I think Genzebe is of a highere callibre than the rest of the oppposition.