Cherotich, Yavi and Chemutai clash in Olympic rematch in Doha

The Paris 2024 Olympic medallists will meet for the first time this year in the Qatari capital and their rivalry will be rekindled in what is expected to be an enthralling race set for 8:44pm Kenyan time.

Cherotich, who got one up on the Kenyan-born Bahraini, to win the Diamond League title last season in Brussels said she does not train with individuals in mind but rather to win a race.

“I don’t train thinking about someone. I train to win and that means beating the competition but it is not an individual. What if I train with someone in mind and she is not even in the line-up?” she paused.

Before winning the Diamond League title, the former world U20 champion and 2023 World Athletics Rising Star award-winner had finished third behind Yavi and Uganda’s Chetumai at the Olympic Games in Paris in a personal best of 8:55.15.

“We’ve prepared well over the last three months. She’s in great shape and the mind-set is right — we’re aiming high,” her coach Bernard Rono told Citizen Digital.

“It’s a rich field with Yavi, Peruth, and Ethiopian talent. It’ll be a tough race and an interesting one to watch.”

Rono echoed Cherotich’s sentiments, saying: “But let me be clear, we don’t train Faith to beat one person. We’re building a champion mindset. The goal is to win titles.”

Cherotich has been training in Kaptagat over the past month, away from her usual Kalyet Athletics Camp in Kericho.

Cherotich opened her season with a quiet 5,000m race at the Athletics Kenya Weekend meet in March, posting 16:20.3 to place fifth. 

“Both Kaptagat and Kalyet are under Global Sports Communication — this isn’t a shift in camps. The decision was purely logistical. Kipkelion doesn’t have a tartan track, and Kericho TTC becomes unusable during the rainy season. That’s why we’re currently in Kaptagat,” said Rono.

Yavi, who is also launching her Diamond League campaign with the Doha leg, is the current Asian record holder with a best of 8:44.39 (Rome, 2024 and holds three of the ten quickest times ever recorded.

The world and Asian Games champion has said she wants to ‘run fast and set a high standard’ in her Diamond League season-opener.

Ugandan record-holder Chemutai, who won the Olympic title in Tokyo (2021), is ranked third-fastest all-time with a best 8:48.03 achieved at the 2024 Diamond League event in Rome where she finished second to Yavi.

The Doha showdown features a world-class line up including Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto the 2022 world champion and Romania’s Stella Rutto, a former world U20 bronze medallist.

Doha marks the third stop of the 2025 Diamond League circuit, after Xiamen and Shanghai.