The 2020 Tokyo Olympics 1,500m silver medalist Timothy Cheruiyot has identified Jacob Ingebristen as his main challenger and what he needs to do to beat him.

Cheruiyot and Ingebristen are expected to face off in the Budapest World Championship in August 2023.

Cheruiyot’s 2021 loss

Cheruiyot lost the Olympic Gold to the Norwegian superstar in Tokyo in 2021 and relinquished the world title to Great Britain’s Jake Wightman in Oregon in 2022 after he clocked 3:30:69.

“Ingebrigtsen is my main competitor, and he is the one I will be eager to beat. What’s encouraging is that I’m not battling any injuries at the moment, and that makes my preparation easier. I need to focus on my endurance because he is a strong guy and the best in the world.

“For now, my focus is on the World Championships and the Diamond League circuit. I am happy that this year I have been injury-free. That’s my happiness. I am going well with my training, and I am confident that good things will come,” Cheruiyot told the media.

Ingebrigtsen is currently in top form and will hope to break another record in Laussane. The fans and crowds in the city have higher expectations of him as the city welcomes him for the third year in a row on Friday.

In June, Ingebrigtsen set a new world record over two miles at the Paris Diamond League before registering a European record in the 1500m in Oslo. Although the 1500m remains his main discipline, he can make it three Diamond League wins in three in the discipline on Friday. 

For Cheruiyot, who will not take part in the Laussane circuit after withdrawing, the Norwegian is his main rival and one he is eager to defeat.

Meanwhile, Cheruiyot is joining the Diamond League circuit to prepare for the Budapest World Championships in August. In Hungary, the 27-year-old will hope to reclaim a title he last lifted in 2019 during the Doha championship.

“I need to plan with my management, the coach, and the doctors to see if I can get even one (Ingebristen) to get that confidence before the World Championships.

“I still feel I’m yet to achieve the speed I strongly yearn for. I also have a lot of work to do to accomplish the appropriate endurance level,” Cheruiyot added.

In 2017, he had won a silver medal in London before he made a significant improvement and emerged as a gold medalist in 2019.

The 2023 showpiece will be the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, which are scheduled to be held from Saturday, August 19, to Saturday, August 27, at the National Athletics Centre, in Budapest.

The global bonanza will be held in the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, a centre that was specifically built for this event, and has a provisional capacity of 36,000.

Past records

Cheruiyot will be going to the event as one of the favourites given what he has achieved in the past. The 1995-born star took the silver medal in his speciality event at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games and won the 1500 m Diamond League title in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021.

Meanwhile, Cheruiyot was in action during the National Athletics Championship and came in third, finishing in 1:45:10, behind Kipng’etich Ngeno, who came in first place with 1:44:90. Cornelius Tuwei was second after finishing with a record of 1:44:92.

Cheruiyot – a two-time African Championship silver medallist from 2016 and 2018 – will also be a participant in the Athletics Kenya trials set for Saturday and July 8 and Sunday, July 9.