Olympic silver medalist Obiri seeks another win in Rome meeting

Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-05 18:56:07|Editor: Song Lifang
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NAIROBI, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Olympic silver medallist Hellen Obiri of Kenya is the latest addition to the 5,000m list of elite runners to grace the Rome Diamond League meeting on Thursday in Italy.

Obiri, however, will miss the expected clash with Ethiopia's 10000m world record holder Almaz Ayana, who has pulled out of the Rome Golden Gala due to a physical problem.

But there will be enough inspiration to get out the best performance from Obiri as she will come up against Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba who has confirmed that she would run the 5000m on the track of the Olympic Stadium.

"In this race there is always a strong challenger and though I have trained well, I do not expect to win easily. I have the advantage of being a strong finisher owing to my experience in the shorter 1,500m race, and so is Dibaba. So it will be an interesting race for both of us," said Obiri in Nairobi.

On Thursday, the Rome Olympic Stadium will open its doors to the fourth leg of the IAAF Diamond League. It will be again the first Diamond League meeting in Europe this year.

The withdrawal of Almaz Ayana, the 10,000m Olympic champion and world record holder, may have taken the excitement out for a possible attempt on the world record in the race, but it will still have the spark when the Kenyans and remaining Ethiopians clash.

Ayana was expected to take part in the 5,000m over the distance where she clocked 14:12.59 narrowly missing Tirunesh Dibaba's 14:11:15 world record.

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