Posted: March 22, 2006

Athletics: Koech Targeting Kenyan Steeplechase Record

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

With no major international titles on the line this year, many athletes have set their sites on fast times in 2006, Paul Kipsiele Koech among them.

"This year I have set myself the target of breaking the Kenyan record of Bernard Barmasai,” said Koech, who brought in the tail end of the Kenyan podium sweep of the 3000m steeplechase at the 2004 Olympic Games. Barmasai’s mark of 7:55.51, set in Cologne in 1997, is still the third fastest performance ever. “My best is 7:56.37 in Rome last year, so I am very close to the record.”

In a dramatic race at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico last July, the 24-year-old nearly ended world record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen’s win streak in the event. Taking the lead off the water jump heading into the final lap, Koech upped the tempo and went on to create a three meter gap on the Qatari down the backstretch. Approaching the final hurdle, Koech still led by a couple meters, when Shaheen, who slightly mistimed his finishing kick, fought on and forged ahead in the final five meters for a very narrow 3/100s of a second win in 7:56.34. Their performances were the sixth and seventh fastest ever.

Koech had an off-day at the World Championships last August, finishing a distant seventh. He ended the season on an up note, taking third at Zurich’s Weltklasse before winning the season-capping World Athletics Final.

This year, Koech is set to begin his international campaign at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Tuesday, May 30, a competition with compelling races in the event in recent years.

“It normally takes me until July to be at my fastest so I don't think I could [break Barmasai’s record] in Ostrava, but like in recent years I want to start with a time of 8:05.”

The meet record of 8:06.14 was set by Kenyan Wilson Boit Kipketer in 2002. Recent winners include Ezekiel Kemboi in 2003, clocking 8:06.19, and two-time world champion Shaheen in 2004. Bad weather precluded fast times last year, but the race, an upset win by Frenchman Bob Tahri over 2000 Olympic champion Reuben Kosgei and Athens winner Kemboi, was among the wet evening’s high notes.

“I know from my friend Kemboi it was very cold last year,” said Koech, who watched the race on television. “If the weather is good I plan to run fast and break the meeting record.”

Former world record holder Brahim Boulami, now back from a two-year doping suspension, has the distinction of producing the fastest steeplechase race ever in the month of May: an 8:04.51 effort on May 18, 2002, set at the now-defunct Grand Prix II meet in Portland, Oregon.

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