What next for Timothy Cheruiyot after unceremonious exit from World Championships?

ATHLETICS What next for Timothy Cheruiyot after unceremonious exit from World Championships?

Abigael Wafula 06:07 - 22.08.2023

Cheruiyot finished ninth in the men's 1500m semifinals and failed to qualify for the final.

It was a disappointing outing for 2019 World 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot after he failed to proceed to the final of the men’s 1500m at the World Championships.

Cheruiyot’s first appearance on the global stage was during the 2015 World Championships in Beijing where he made the cut to the final and finished seventh.

Since then, he has been a mainstay in Team Kenya to global events but since last year, he has not been at his best due to a bout of injuries.

During the ongoing World Championships in the Hungarian capital, Cheruiyot made the cut to the semifinal by a whisker after finishing sixth. Going to the semifinal, he struggled to maintain consistency and ended up finishing ninth and missing out on a place in the final.

It might be a long road to make it back to another World Championships but he still maintains his focus is now on next year’s Paris Olympics where he will be hoping to go one place better.

“I will come and fight another day…This loss has given me a lot of motivation and I will go back to the drawing board and train hard and focus because we have the Olympic Games next year,” he said.

Cheruiyot had great ambitions going into the World Championships and one was to reclaim the title but all that has gone up in flames. He also expressed his disappointment but insisted that as a champion, he cannot afford to give up.

“A game is a game and I’m disappointed. As a champion, you have to accept any results. I was beaten and I have to accept that,” he said.

The mantle now remains on reigning World Under-20 champion Reynold Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang to deliver when they go head-to-head with serial threats Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and Yared Nuguse of the USA.