NAIROBI, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- There will be no love lost when Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya and World 1500m record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia clash in this year's IAAF World Indoor Tour, which starts in Karlsruhe, Germany on Feb. 3.
Both Kipyegon and Dibaba have their eyes on the World Indoor Championship gold medal in Birmingham in March.
Kipyegon defeated Dibaba in the women's 1,500 meter final to win in a shocking 4:08.92 at the 2016 Olympics, and again in London during the World Championships. But the indoor tour is a different challenge with a shorter track.
"I have no pressure and nothing to prove to anyone. I believe in my strength. Last year was a great season winning both the Diamond League and the World Championships. But I also want to do well in 2018," Kipyegon said on Friday from Nakuru.
"I must thank my fans and coach for the support," she added. While Kipyegon is yet to announce her indoor program, Dibaba, who finished last at the London World Championships, will be the star athlete at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe in Germany on Feb 3, the opening stop of the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Tour.
In Karlsruhe, Dibaba will face a solid German contingent, led by rising star Konstanze Klosterhalfen.
The 20-year-old made a big breakthrough in 2017, improving her lifetime bests outdoors to 3:58.92 and 8:29.89 over 1500m and 3000m, and racing to silver at the European Indoor Championships last winter.
With the new addition of the Madrid Indoor Meeting, the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Tour will consist of six action-packed meetings staged throughout the month of February.
The individual overall winner of each discipline upon conclusion of the tour will receive 20,000 U.S. dollar prize money and automatically qualify for the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 by wild card.
World 1,500m champion Elijah Manangoi will be competing in Dusseldorf on Feb. 6.
Manangoi will start off against U23 European champion Marius Probst and Czech European indoor champion from 2015 Jakub Holusa.
