 | | Kenenisa Bekele celebrates his world championship double (Photo- IAAF) |
Thursday Sep 3, 2009 - Brussels, Belgium
Ethiopian distance running great Kenenisa Bekele said on Thursday that he aims to improve at least his world leading time over the 5000m ahead of his final IAAF Golden League jackpot race at the Memorial Van Damme on Friday. The 27-year old, who has won his previous five golden races in Berlin, Oslo, Rome, Paris, and Zurich, will again race over the 5000m at the Stade Badouin on Friday in hopes of sharing the USD 1million big prize with American sprinter Sanya Richards and Russian Yelena Isinbayeva. "First of all, my goal is to win the jackpot," he said. "If possible, I want to run faster than Zurich. I dont want to say the time, but definetely faster than Zurich." In his last competitive outting, Kenenisa improved his own 2009 world leading time to 12:52.32 in Zurich as he won in convincing style of Kenyan Edwin Soi and American Dathan Ritzenhein, who himself improved the American record. Kenenisa will not be short of challengers in Brussels. Although he is the prohibitive favorite for the race, the 27-year old will run against no less than thirteen Kenyans, while compatriots Ali Abdosh, sixth in the world championships, and youngster Aberu Kuma will provide the challenge. Organizers have also enlisted the services of Kenyans Benson Esho and Joseph Kiplimo, who will pace Kenenisa in order to meet his target of running under 12.50. |
