Cape Town - Stephen Mokoka has just lost his 5 000m national record, but he’ll have a chance to chase the 10 000m mark when he runs alongside Olympic champion Mo Farah at a Diamond League meet in the US on Saturday morning (SA time).
The 31-year-old Mokoka won both the 5 000m and 10 000m titles at the South African championships in Stellebosch in April, but Elroy Gelant broke Mokoka’s 5 000m record of 13:11.44 with a superb 13:04.88 in Hengelo last Sunday.
However, Hendrick Ramaala still holds the SA 10 000m record of 27:29.94, which was set as far back as 1999.
Mokoka’s personal best in the longer distance is 27:40.73, which he ran in 2012. But competing with a superstar such as British double Olympic winner Farah could just inspire him to new heights at the Diamond League event in Eugene, Oregon.
The 10 000m takes place at 6.18am SA time on Saturday morning (9.18pm US Pacific Daylight Time on Friday night), and there are only five out of the 29 other athletes who have slower PBs than Mokoka.
Apart from Farah, 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia – younger brother of world record-holder Kenenisa Bekele – as well as 2013 world championship silver medallist Ibrahim Jeilan, also of Ethiopia, will line up in Oregon.
There are seven athletes who boast sub-27-minute times for the 10 000m, including four Kenyans in Emmanuel and Josphat Bett, Stephen Sambu and Titus Mbishei.
While Mokoka will be the only South African at the two-day meet, four other locals will turn out in Brescia, northern Italy on Sunday at the Gavardo City meeting.
Both men’s and women’s 100m SA champions Henricho Bruintjies and Alyssa Conley will compete, and the sprint duo will hope to improve on their previous performances over the last week or so.
Bruintjies was disqualified in the 100m final at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo on Sunday after winning his heat in a reasonable 10.26, where he beat Kim Collins.
Conley, who prefers the 200m, finished second in the IAAF World Challenge in Dakar on Wednesday in 11.42, which is well off her personal best of 11.29. Windy conditions affected the sprinters in Senegal, so hopefully it will be a clear evening on Sunday for Conley and Bruintjies to go even quicker.
Bruintjies is the definite favourite in Brescia as he is the only athlete with a sub-10 second time, but Conley will come up against 20-year-old sensation Dina Asher Smith, a former world junior champion who became the first British woman to break through the 11-second barrier in the 100m with a 10.99 in July last year.
Long jumpers Dylan Cotter and Lynique Prinsloo will look to produce another Olympic qualifying distance after going past their respective marks (8.15m and 6.70m) just once this season.
Cotter in particular needs to come up with a big jump to push for a place in the Rio Olympic team as there are three other South Africans who have jumped further than his best of 8.16m in 2016 – Ruswahl Samaai (8.38m), Luvo Manyonga (8.30m) and Stefan Brits (8.22m).