Reigning 5000m world champions Ethiopia's Muktar Edris and Kenyan Hellen Obiri will be the star attractions at the TCS World 10K, which returns after a three-year hiatus in Bengaluru on May 15. (More Sports News)
Edris, the two-time defending world champion, will be using the Bengaluru race as part of his preparations to become just the second man to win three consecutive titles in the event at this summer's world championships.
He is no stranger to India having made his half marathon debut in the 2020 Delhi Half Marathon.
Former holder of the world half marathon record Kibiwott Kandie from Kenya, who has a 10km personal best of 26;51, almost a minute faster than the course record in Bengaluru will also be competing for the top honours.
Ethiopia’s 20-year-old Tadese Worku is another man with a 10km best inside 27 minutes, having run 26:56 last September just a few months after he won the world U20 3000m title on the track.
In the women’s race, Obiri will be making her racing debut in India.
Like Edris, she has also won the 5000m at the last two editions of the world championships and took silver medals over the same distance at the previous two Olympics in Rio and Tokyo.
Both Edris and Obiri will have the TCS World 10K course records as their targets.
Joyce Tele comes to Bengaluru having won the Agnes Tirop Cross Country Classic in February and has produced some outstanding half marathon times since the start of 2021.
Tele ran a personal best of 1:05:50 to finish second in the Berlin Half Marathon earlier this month.
A third Kenyan to watch out for in the women’s race will be the 2017 world cross country champion Irene Cheptai, who also triumphed at the 2017 TCS World 10K a few months later.
The TCS World 10K Bengaluru 2022 has a total prize fund of USD 210,000, with the men’s and women’s winners taking home USD 26,000.
