Brimin Kipruto holds off Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad to win the Olympic steeplechase title (© Getty Images)
With the advice that France’s European champion Mahiedine Mekhissi has confirmed his entry into the 3000m Steeplechase at Samsung Diamond League ExxonMobil Bislett Games, we can now expect the race will produce a rash of very fast times.
Mahiedine Mekissi won last year’s European title with a powerful finish and he expects that with the benefit of a faster pace and hotter competition the European record of his countryman “Bob” Tahri may be under some real threat.
Tahri’s continental record stands at 8:01.13, whilst Mekhissi’s best is 8:02.52. In the right conditions and with the right pace Mekhissi feels that not only can he take the European record but that he has a realistic chance of achieving a sub-8 minute performance, a time only ever accomplished by only one non-Kenyan born runner … Morocco’s Brahim Boulami!
A realistic pace will be set by Mekhissi’s training partner Zerrifi and then in turn the pace will be pushed by Kenya’s Haron Langat as the classy field shoot for the first sub-8 minute race of the season.
Olympic and World champion Brimin Kipruto, who has yet to run under 8 minutes for the 3000m Steeple will also appreciate the fast pace and will be looking for a new personal best to become the eighth Kenyan born athlete to achieve this feat.
Also in the field and providing great encouragement will be prolific sub 8-minute steeplechaser Paul Koech. The Kenyan Olympic silver medallist has been under the magical 8-minute barrier on no fewer than eight occasions and would like nothing better than to erase Moses Kiptanui’s long standing stadium record of 8.03.36 that dates back to 1995.
As expected a group of younger African will also be chasing a win in Oslo which will be the third 3000m Steeplechase to be contested in this year’s Samsung Diamond League. These include Patrick Langat and Silas Kitum from Kenya and the quickly improving Benjamin Kiplagat of Uganda.
The Bislett stadium.. the “world record track” has witnessed two World Records in the 3000m Steeplechase; in 1955 the Finn Pentii Karvonen established a time of 8:45.4. More recently (in 1975) the Swede Anders Garderud posted an extremely impressive time of 8:10.4. The stadium history is well known to all the fans who will supply that special “Bislett” support to all the competitors.
Samsung Diamond League
