WTW: Hobbs Kessler Wins, A Kenyan With Ties to Two Olympic Champs Gets Popped, and Geoffrey Kamworor Is Getting Fitter
The Week That Was in Running, January 2-8, 2023
By Robert Johnson
January 10, 2023
Below I recap last week’s action for you. Yesterday, we published two articles on LetsRun.com that you might find interesting that don’t appear below as technically they this week’s news — one on which doubles/triples are possible for the 2024 Olympics (the schedule came out Monday) and one that breaks down the stellar 2023 Boston Marathon field, which will feature a record 16 sub-2:21 women.
Each week, we try to make the sport more fun to follow by putting the prior week’s action in perspective for you. Past editions of our Week That Was weekly recap can be found here. Got a tip, question or comment? Please call us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), email us, or post in our forum.
Each week we also recap the week’s action — and preview the week to come — on the world’s best track and field podcast, LetsRun.com’s Track Talk. Listen today on your favorite podcast player and join the LetsRun Supporters Club to get access to our Friday bonus podcast.
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Geoffrey Kamworor is getting fitter
There wasn’t a lot of action during the first full week of 2023 but there was some cross country racing in various spots across the globe. The biggest result came at the Kenya Police Service Cross Country Championships on Friday. In that race, Geoffrey Kamworor — one of the greatest cross country runners the world has ever seen (2015, 2017 world champ, 2019 bronze) — got a dominant win in 29:31.9. He was 15 seconds ahead of 12:54 man Daniel Simiu, who beat Kamworor by more than six seconds a month ago at the Kenyan World XC trials, where Simiu was second (28:28.0) and Kamworor sixth (28:34.6).
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Kamworor wasn’t the only former World XC champ in action last week. At the Kenya Defense Forces XC Champs, 2019 world champ Hellen Obiri repeated as champion in 32:58.9, defeating former NYC and London Marathon champ Joyciline Jepkosgei (33:04.8). Obiri, who debuted in the marathon in NYC in November, didn’t run the Kenyan trials and presumably won’t be racing World XC.
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21-year-old Rahel Daniel of Eritrea, who was 5th in the 10,000 at Worlds, is a name you might want to remember. She had a monster 2022, lowering her 5,000 pb from 14:55.56 to 14:36.66 (NR) and her 10,000 from 34:57.14 to 30:12.15 (NR) and is poised to build on that in 2023 after a big week. On Friday, she won the famed Campaccio cross country meet in Italy over World 10,000 bronze medallist Margaret Kipkemboi (19:10 to 19:12, Francine Niyonsaba was just 5th in 19:40). Just two days later, she won a second World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meet at the 79th Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza in Elgoibar, Spain in 25:43, with Kenyan XC trials runner-up Edinah Jebitok 2nd (25:51) and 8:56 steepler Winfred Yavi third (25:58).
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The men’s winner in Spain was Olympic 10,000 champ Selemon Barega, who started the year off right after a disappointing 2022 outdoor campaign where he failed to medal in the 10,000 (5th) or 5,000 (12th) in Eugene (he did win world indoor 3,000 gold). Barega won in dominant fashion, by 13 seconds in 33:14 over 12:56 man Birhanu Balew with Adel Mechaal third (33:39).
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Hobbs Kessler opens up with a win
Kessler in 2021. (Tim Healy for TrackTown USA)
Hobbs Kessler, who set the US U20 1500 record of 3:34.36 in 2021 but “only” ran 3:36.63 in 2022, opened up his 2023 campaign with a win in the 1000 in Ann Arbor at the Wolverine Invitational. In the race for internal bragging rights between members of coach Ron Warhurst‘s Very Nice Track Club, Kessler used a 26.83 final lap to get the win in 2:20.76 as 3:30 1500-meter man Charlie Grice, who struggled with an ankle injury last year, was secondin 2:21.23 and 2018 NCAA 10,000 champ Ben Flanagan third in 2:21.46. If you are shocked by Flanagan’s time, remember he’s a 3:57 miler in addition to being a 10k runner.
Kessler will leave his teenage years behind on March 15 when he turns 20.
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Déjà vu – Jake Wightman opens with a loss at 3000
At the British Milers’ Club Indoor Grand Prix in Sheffield on Sunday, world 1500 champion Jake Wightman opened his campaign with a 3000. Just like he did at Worlds, he moved into the lead with 200 meters to go, but unlike at Worlds, he didn’t power away to victory.
Instead, he tied up and was run down at the line as 2:12 marathoner Phil Sesemann got the win in 7:54.34 to Wightman’s 7:54.58. *Race video
..@philsesemann wins the @BritishMilers indoor 3000m. in Sheffield from a sprawling @JakeSWightman @AthleticsWeekly 📷MarkShearman pic.twitter.com/yfdw4Zd3G9
— Mark Shearman MBE (@AthleticsImages) January 8, 2023
Last year, Wightman also opened up his campaign with a 3000 in Sheffield and he also lost, although the time was a bit faster in 2022 compared to 2023. Last year, Italy’s Ossama Meslek got the win in 7:50.14 to Wightman’s 7:50.97. Meslek would go on to run 3:36.04/7:43.63 over the summer.
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Kenyan record holder with ties to two Olympic champions suspended
The biggest news of the week came off the track when on Friday, the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya announced on its website that former UTEP star Michael Saruni has been provisionally suspended since August 14. Saruni, the 2018 NCAA indoor and 2021 Kenyan Olympic Trials champ, was provisionally suspended for “for evading, refusing, or failing to submit to Sample Collection.”
Saruni, who has an an outdoor pb of 1:43.25 from 2018 (the NCAA record) and the indoor Kenyan record of 1:43.98 (2019), struggled in 2022 as he raced nine times indoors and out but never broke 1:46 on the season.
His suspension is significant not just because he was a fast runner. Saruni has ties to two Olympic champions. His coach was/(is?) 1988 Olympic 800 champ Paul Ereng and his training partner was/(is?) 2020 Olympic 800 champ Emmanuel Korir (Editor’s note: We don’t know if Saruni was training with them this year but know he did for many years in the past. We have reached out to Paul Ereng for comment)
Saruni wasn’t the only prominent Kenyan suspended. 29:53 10,000 runner Alice Aprot, the 2017 World XC silver medallist who was 4th in the 2016 Olympic and 2017 World 10,000’s, was suspended due to the presence of “S4 – Letrozole Metabolite Bis-(4- Cyanophenyl) Methanol” in her sample. Like Saruni, Aprot hadn’t done much in 2022, with a season’s best of 31:47 in five 10k races encompassing track and roads.
*MB: Michael Saruni gets pinched(as does 29:53 10ker / WXC silver Alice Aprot)
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Social Media Post of The Week
2017 steeple world champion Emma Coburn’s mom, Annie Coburn, passed away last week after a 3-year battle with cancer. Losing a parent is hard but Emma posted a great tribute to her mom which you can read below. Additionally, the family had a great post on Annie’s Instagram page as well.
View this post on Instagram
MB: RIP Annie Coburn
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Recommended Reads
SC “They Have a Really Big Doping Problem” — Why Were So Many Kenyans Banned in 2022? 25 Kenyan athletes were sanctioned by the Athletics Integrity Unit or ADAK in 2022. We spoke to agents and AIU head Brett Clothier to figure out what’s going on. * MB: Why Were So Many Kenyans Banned in 2022? Jonathan Gault tried to find out
LRC Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, One of Track & Field’s Villains, Retires at 37 MMB shoved two mascots, punched another runner, and got DQ’d for excessive celebration but he remains the only man to win 3 Olympic steeple medals.
LRC Historically GREAT 2023 Boston Marathon Women’s Field Announced – 3 Quick Thoughts The 2022 Boston marathon will feature a RECORD 5 sub-2:18 women and 16 sub-2:21 women on its start line.
LRC 2024 Olympic Track & Field Schedule Is Out: What Doubles (And Triples) Are Possible? Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Athing Mu, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen could all be interested in doubling up in Paris. We run the numbers to see how feasible each double/triple is. We’ve got good news – almost any double/triple you want to see is very doable.
*MB: Great news: Paris 2024 track and field schedule is out & almost every double/triple you’d want is doable. Will Jakob triple?
For recommended reads from other weeks, go here.
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Quotes Of The Day And Last Week’s Home Pages
To see the quotes of the day from last week or last week’s home page or any home page, go to our archive page.
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Got a tip, question or comment? Please call us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), email us or post in our forum.
Did you enjoy this article? Then we imagine you’ll love our podcast. Each week we also recap the week’s action — and preview the week to come — on the world’s best track and field podcast, LetsRun.com’s Track Talk. Listen today on your favorite podcast player and join the LetsRun Supporters Club to get access to our Friday bonus podcast.