NAIROBI, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan-born American runner Bernard Lagat has wound up his Kenyan training camp as he aims to seal his sixth show in marathon at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Lagat hopes his decision to move his training to a hillier terrain in Kenya rather than his home in Tucson, Arizona will help him secure a place at his sixth Olympics.

"Normally, I just stay in the U.S. (for training). But, it was different this time," Lagat said on Saturday in Eldoret in northwest Kenya.

"When I think of Tucson (which is flat), if I really wanted to have a go at it in Atlanta, I wanted to get to a place where I could just get some good hills and have groups of people who can kind of take me along those long runs. That was the decision to come to Kenya."

With five appearances at the Olympic Games, anyone would probably have nothing more left to prove, but that is not the case for the Kenyan-turned American.

The 45-year-old is aiming for his sixth appearance at the Olympics in Tokyo. However, he has to deal with the small matter of going through the qualifiers.

Lagat competed at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympics for Kenya, went on to represent the United States in 2008, 2012 and 2016.

Now he is among the favorites to claim a slot in the USA team, which will line up in the Olympic marathon trials in Atlanta on Feb. 29.

Lagat was spurred to train abroad after a conversation with legendary coach Patrick Sang, the 1992 Olympic steeplechase silver medalist.

Both men were in Vienna in October 2019 to support Eliud Kipchoge's sub-two-hour marathon exhibition (Lagat was a pacemaker), and Sang encouraged Lagat to train in Kenya for the trials where he could count on good winter weather, ample training partners, and good hilly routes which would toughen him for Atlanta's challenging course.

"I was talking to Patrick Sang, and I was talking to Eliud, and Augustine Choge because the thing is with Atlanta, everyone was talking about it's hilly, hilly, hilly course," Lagat told reporters.

Despite his advanced age, Lagat is still a marathon novice. He made his debut at the New York marathon in 2018, running 2:17:20 five weeks before turning 44.

Eight months later, he flew to Australia and ran the Gold Coast Marathon where he clocked 2:12:10, 40 seconds short of the World Athletics qualifying standard of 2:11:30 for the Tokyo Olympics. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)