Konstanze Klosterhalfen takes victory in the 1500m at the German Championships in Kassel (© Gladys Chai von der Laage)
In 2014, Mary Cain of the US halted Kenyan dominance in the event at five straight. This year the east African powerhouse will have to stop Bahrain's Dalila Abdulkadir Gosa and Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen to regain the title.
The 18-year-old already has a global accolade to her name, silver at 1500m from the IAAF World Youth Championships Cali 2015, but this year moves up in distance after a successful winter campaign in which she won the Asian junior cross-country title. She impressed in her lone 3000m outing, clocking 8:51.31, the fastest in the U20 category this year, with a third-place finish in Ostrava in late May. She has also improved to 4:09.58 over 1500m.
Klosterhalfen clocked 8:56.36 for 3000m indoors in February and 8:55.66 outdoors in early May. She also took bronze at the European Junior Championships last year over 1500m before winning the European junior cross-country title. Klosterhalfen is also entered in the 1500m, though, and may opt to compete in that event instead.
Leading Kenyan hopes will be U20 trials winner Sandrafelis Chebet Tuei, who, like Gosa, earned a silver medal in Cali last year, finishing second in the 2000m steeplechase. Chebet clocked 9:02.0 in her only 3000m outing at this distance this season, a 16-second improvement on her career best form last year.
She'll be backed up by Sheila Chelangat, the runner-up finisher at the Kenyan trials in 9:11.6 and the bronze medallist in the event last year in Cali.
Japan will also arrive with a strong 1-2 punch with Wakana Kabasawa and Nozomi Tanaka, who at 9:06.47 and 9:08.15 respectively, rank sixth and seventh on the 2016 world U20 list.
Gosa's teammate Bontu Rebitu (9:08.67) and 16-year-old US U20 champion Kate Murphy (9:10.51) could be in the medal mix as well.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
