Evergreen Timothy Cheruiyot to lock horns with trailblazing USA national champion in London

ATHLETICS: Evergreen Timothy Cheruiyot to lock horns with trailblazing USA national champion in London

Abigael Wafula 09:10 - 20.07.2023

Cheruiyot goes into the race with the hope of maintaining the dominance he has had on home soil winning the World Championships National Trials.

As the Diamond League Meeting heads to London on Sunday, July 23, the men’s 1500m promises to be a scintillating show with 2019 World champion Timothy Cheruiyot going head-to-head with the third fastest man over the distance this season, Yared Nuguse.

Cheruiyot goes into the race with the hope of maintaining the dominance he has had on home soil winning the World Championships National Trials. He has only been to one Diamond League Meeting this season, the Bislett Games in Oslo, where he finished fourth.

He returns to the London Stadium with sweet memories of how he finished second during the 2017 World Championships.

He faces familiar foes as he clashed with in Oslo but this time around, he will not be up against Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen. However, he cannot underrate the fact that the field has also attracted USA’s Nuguse who was recently crowned the National Champion.

Spain’s Mario Garcia who finished fourth in the World Championships in Eugene and a European bronze medallist will also be in the mix. France’s Azeddine Habz, a European indoor bronze medallist, and Oliver Hoare of Australia, a Commonwealth champion and Australian national record holder have also entered the race.

Others who will pose as threats to Cheruiyot’s chances of winning include Norway’s Narve Gilje Nordas, Ireland’s fast-improving Andrew Corcoran, and New Zealand’s Samuel Tanner, who ran a PB for fifth (3:31.24) and will also lineup in London.

British champion Neil Gourley, the 2023 European indoor silver medallist, 14th fastest in the world this year to date with a recent 3:30.88 (from Oslo) leads the domestic contenders. 

He is joined by Great Britain and Northern Ireland representatives Elliot Giles, George Mills, and Matt Stonier, the athletes who were second, third, and fourth at the UK Championships.

Giles is the 2016 European 800m bronze medallist and has a 1500m best of 3:31.56 from the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Mills is a former European U18 800m champion with a 1500m best of 3:31.54 from Silesia and Stonier has a best of 3:32.50 from a high-quality Commonwealth Games final in Birmingham where he finished seventh.