NAIROBI, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- World 10,000m bronze medalist Agnes Tirop of Kenya will launch her season campaign at the Campaccio cross country meeting, an IAAF permit race in San Giorgio in Milan, Italy on January 6, 2018.
Tirop, who won gold at the 2015 World Cross Country championship in Nanjing, China is focusing on representing Kenya at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April and wants to use the cross country circuit to build on her endurance.
Though Ethiopia will not take part in the Commonwealth Games, Tirop believes the event will still have strong contesters. In London in August, Tirop settled for bronze in a race won by Ethiopian Olympic champion Almaz Ayana.
"I want to start strongly and see how I will fare on. I have not made up my mind about competing at the Africa Cross Country," she said in Nairobi on Sunday.
The Africa cross country championships will be held in Chlef, Algeria in March.
But with her holiday over, Tirop will put her best foot forward when she lines up at the Campaccio meeting in Milan against a strong opposition on Jan. 6.
One woman to look out for is compatriot Helen Obiri, who is returning to defend the title she won last year.
One year on from smashing the Campaccio course record Obiri will return to defend her title. The world 5000m champion won the 2017 edition of the race by four seconds from fellow Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, the world and Olympic 1500m champion.
It marked the first of many victories for Obiri in 2017 as the 28-year-old went on to win the world and IAAF Diamond League titles for 5000m.
In what looks set to be a high-quality race, Obiri will take on world 10,000m bronze medalist and 2015 world cross-country champion Tirop, two-time world U20 cross country champion Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, and world cross country bronze medallist Lilian Rengeruk of Kenya.
USA's Paul Chelimo leads the men's field. The Olympic 5000m silver medallist will line up alongside Norway's Sondre Nordstadt Moen, who recently broke the European marathon record with 2:05:48, and Italy's 2014 European marathon champion Daniele Meucci.
