World champ believes Diamond League calendar finds many by surprise
By Christopher Owuor, May 14, 2020Reigning World 5,000 metres and World Cross Country Champion Hellen Obiri, believes that June 11, when the athletics Diamond League resumes, was too soon and would find many athletes off guard.
The Diamond League season was pushed into an August start by the coronavirus pandemic under a new calendar for track and field showpiece meetings released Tuesday.
With the exception of a June 11 meeting in Oslo that will feature modified events in line with social distancing rules, the season proper is now scheduled to start in Monaco on August 14.
Twelve meetings will feature, culminating in China on October 17 at a venue yet to be arranged.
The London Diamond League meeting scheduled for July 4-5 has been cancelled.
Obiri 29, was looking at a fruitful season as she was enjoying peak form but has somehow been curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic, however, she remains optimistic she will be able to bounce back.
The Athlete who is represented by Ricky Simms, told People Sport that when the season re-opens; she will be focusing on the 3000 metres event.
“First the June 11 it is a bit too soon to start the Diamond League calendar because we all know that athletes have been affected by this disease to the point that our programs have been messed with.
However, since World Athletics have given a provisional calendar, we will just try to adjust and adopt intensive training.
Obviously I want to go out and improve on my personal best times and probably fight for the titles so it is about switching my mindset.
The good thing is that now I will fully focus on the 3000 metres races because the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres are now scrapped, so I can train specifically for that race with an aim of dominating the distance,” she told People Sport from her home in Kisii.
The Olympic silver medallist has, however, expressed concerns over the training schedule that are restrictive pointing out that she only trains at home.
She has also argued that the fact that it is summer in Europe, other factors would change in terms of preparations because the usual timetable normally begin in November when its winter in Europe.
“Since we have not gotten proper confirmation, we will just work with what we have especially focussing on fitness and strength since we cannot do so much outdoors.
I hope from next month, we can resume full training because ideally we would require like two months for thorough training.
However because of the situation we are in, I have to do solo training constantly.