Young Dutch runner and fellow Olympic 1500m finalist Stefan Nillessen face last year’s one-two in the Welsh capital, Keneth Kiprop and Vincent Mutai
Niels Laros, the Dutch teenager who was sixth in the Olympic 1500m final this year, will enjoy an early-winter endurance test at the Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday (Nov 9).
It promises to be a true test as well as the 19-year-old is set to face the top two men from the Cardiff Cross Challenge last year – Keneth Kiprop of Uganda and Vincent Mutai of Kenya – plus fellow Dutchman, training partner and Olympic 1500m finalist Stefan Nillessen.
Laros clocked a European under-20 1500m record of 3:29.54 in Paris in August as he finished behind Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, Yared Nuguse, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Hobbs Kessler. Nillessen, meanwhile, was ninth in Paris in 3:30.75 and is the reigning European under-23 champion.
It promises to be a great race with the going on the Llandaff Fields course set to be firm and fast following recent dry weather and unseasonably warm temperatures. The event’s status as a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold Label continues to attract quality line-ups. The event is also the first of this winter’s British Athletics Cross Challenge series.
Cardiff Cross Challenge (Paul Stillman)
Age-group races and the inclusion of the John H Collins Gwent Cross Country League mean there will be a strong turn-out from club runners. Not surprisingly, Brits are also using the event as a warm-up for the Euro Trials in Liverpool two weeks later.
Laros clearly enjoys tackling cross-country as part of his preparation for the summer track season. Last winter, for example, he was narrowly beaten by Axel Vang Christensen in the under-20 race at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels.
Kiprop, who is still only 19, set a fierce pace from the front in Cardiff last year. Since then he has gone on to win 5000m bronze in the World Under-20 Championships in Lima this year.
Keneth Kiprop with Vincent Mutai (left) and Abele Bekele Alemu (right)
Mutai will be looking for revenge this year and is familiar with the Welsh capital as he is a former winner of the Cardiff Half Marathon.
Other contenders include Célestin Ndikumana and Emile Hafashimana of Burundi, former Dutch 1500m champion Robin van Riel, Daniel Kibet of Uganda and Younes Kniya of Morocco.
The British challenge is led by Zak Mahamed, who is fresh from a half-marathon PB of 62:07 in Valencia and who was top Brit in Cardiff 12…
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