Wanyonyi, Cherotich lead Kenyan hopes at Lausanne Diamond League

Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Faith Cherotich will headline Kenya’s challenge when Lausanne hosts the 12th Diamond League meeting on August 20. Wanyonyi will contest the men’s 800m, while Cherotich lines up in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at Stade de la Pontaise.

Wanyonyi arrives as the leading athlete in the Diamond League standings, with 27 points. Canadian Marco Arop has 21, level with Britain’s Ben Pattison, leaving the Kenyan six points clear as he targets a stronger result than his fourth place in London, where he ran 1:43.31.

The Olympic and world champion also holds the momentum of a world record in the 1000m. He set the mark at the Monaco meeting with a time of 2:11.83, but his Lausanne race will feature several athletes with strong recent form.

Arop is the fastest entrant over 800m this season after recording 1:41.84 in Paris in June. Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati has a season-best 1:43.19, while American Brandon Miller defeated Wanyonyi in London after winning in 1:42.19.

Cherotich will compete after taking the Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow. The world champion faces a field led in the standings by Tunisia’s Marwa Bouzayani, who has 25 points despite not winning a Diamond League race this season. Bahrain’s Olympic champion Winfred Yavi is also in the race.

Kenya will have further representation in the men’s 5000m through newly crowned Commonwealth champion Matthew Kipsang. Laban Kosgei, Charles Kiboino, Jacob Krop and Cornelius Kemboi complete the country’s five-athlete entry in the 12-and-a-half-lap event. Kipsang is seeking a response to his eighth-place finish in Paris, where he clocked 12:58.95.

The Lausanne meeting is part of the run-in to the Diamond League trophy finals in Brussels on September 4 and 5. Wanyonyi’s points lead gives his 800m result added importance, while Cherotich will seek to strengthen Kenya’s presence in the steeplechase.