Isaac Kimeli sets new goals after success at Olympics
Isaac Kimeli said goodbye to his success coach Tim Moriau after more than a decade and will now be guided by Ivo Roelandt. On Sunday, the fourth of the past European Championships in cross country running will immediately open his 2025 account with the Valencia 10 kilometers. We spoke to a relaxed but focused Isaac two days before the race.
With his eighth-place finish at the Olympic 5,000 meters in Paris last summer, Isaac Kimeli made history for Belgium, but his hunger is far from satisfied. The 30-year-old Belgian affiliated with athletics club Olympic Essenbeek Halle (OEH), who already ran a blazing time of 12:56 in the five kilometers, is aiming for a medal at the European Championships through the streets of Leuven, Belgium, later this year. Kimeli will be competing there in the 10km and therefore aims to hoist himself onto the podium in front of his own crowd in April. After that, the Flemish-Brabander will run some shorter track races including races over 1,500m and 5,000m.
He then aims to run a good 5,000m at the World Championships in Tokyo in September, after which he will again head straight to Kenya to train and more than likely prepare for his marathon debut. That same Valencia, where Kimeli opens his season Sunday, could then provide another icing on an already beautiful cake in November.
“We started our collaboration after the European Cross Championships and the communication is going very smoothly,” Kimeli reported about the brand new collaboration with his new trainer Ivo Roelandt.
Marathon legend Bashir Abdi currently holds the Belgian record for the 10km on the road with 27:46. The kind man from Ghent ran this lightning-fast chrono on May 26, 2024 in Manchester. Isaac Kimeli now wants to improve on his own personal best time on Sunday in Valencia and will see what that will bring. “I feel good, was able to continue training well and healthy after the European Championships. I was able to finish all the scheduled training sessions well. I'm just going to run as fast as I can and then we'll see,” top athlete Isaac Kimeli confided to the press in Valencia.
(SR for Tagtik/Source: Tagtik/Illustration picture by Sandro Halank via Wikimedia Commons licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)