Asbel Kiprop now firmly amongst the all time greats

With a commanding win at the world athletics championships 1500m, Kenyan miler Asbel Kiprop has firmly established himself as one of the all time greats.

Kiprop easily won the race by surging in the final 200m. Team-mate Nixon Chepseba had set the pace early in the race, leading until the 1200m mark upon which Kiprop made his move. The long legged Kiprop used his lengthy strides to surge upfront. The rest of the field tried to respond but no one could match Kiprop’s break-away speed. Kiprop is deceptively fast. With a personal best in the 800m of 1:43.15, he was clearly the fastest person in that final.

With two world championship gold medals and an Olympic gold medal, Kiprop has already established himself as Kenya’s most successful miler. He is well on his way to matching the record of Moroccan legend Hicham El Guerrouj, Algerian  Nourredine Morceli as well as Kenyan turned American Bernard Lagat.

His personal best in the 1500m is 3:27.72 which ranks second in Kenya only behind Bernard Lagat and ahead of 2000 Olympic gold medalist Noah Ngeny, a real legend whose career was truncated by a road accident.

Go to Kenya Athletics Page

Author: riadha