World Athletics Cross Country Championships – News – Cheptegei, Kamworor To Renew Rivalry At World Athletics Cross Country Championships

CHEPTEGEI, KAMWOROR TO RENEW RIVALRY AT WORLD ATHLETICS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved – Used with permission.

(17-Feb) — Since facing each other in a 10-K road race in Bengaluru, India in May of 2014, Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya and Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda have been fierce, yet friendly, rivals.  The two Africans –who work with separate coaches and training groups, although they share the same management team– have faced each other on a total of nine occasions during their careers, according to the statistics service Tilastopaja Oy, and Kamworor has come out ahead six times.  However, in the five World or Olympic championship events where they have met, Cheptegei, 26, has a 3-2 edge over Kamworor, 30.

But there is no event where these two athletes hunger for victory more than the World Athletics Cross Country Championships where they will face each other on Saturday in Bathurst, Australia.  In the last three editions of these championships –in 2015, 2017 and 2019– Kamworor has won twice and finished third once.  The only man to beat him was Cheptegei, who in Aarhus, Denmark nearly four years ago won the gold medal 15 seconds ahead of Kamworor, who got the bronze behind Cheptegei’s Ugandan teammate, Jacob Kiplimo.  All three men are set to compete in Bathurst.

“Cross country… is in my DNA,” said Kamworor at a press conference on Friday in Bathurst where temperatures are expected to hit 33C/91F on Saturday.  “It was the first title I won.  The first major global title I won was from the cross country back in 2011 (when he won the under-20 title).  That medal really motivated me so much to love the cross country.  That’s why I always love the cross country.”

Kamworor is a runner for all surfaces and distances.  He has won three World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships titles, and has twice won the TCS New York City Marathon (in 2017 and 2019).  Although he’s been running marathons since 2012, he still feels a strong pull to cross country which most top marathoners have abandoned.  Unlike most athletes running in April’s TCS London Marathon, Kamworor has incorporated cross country training into his marathon training program.

“This cross country is part of my preparation,” Kamworor told reporters.  “I found it part of my preparation towards the marathon because I’ll be running in London Marathon.  This is part of training, it’s part of my endurance training, my…