NAIROBI, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei has recovered from his knee injury that has kept him off competition since April and will compete in a road race in Netherlands on Sunday.
Cheptegei, who claimed double gold in Australia in April, aggravated his knee in the process and has paid the price missing the Diamond League and Africa Championships in Nigeria. However, he hopes his rest season will count as he returns to action after six months with the Dam tot Damloop, a 10-mile road race from Amsterdam to Zaandam in the Netherlands.
The 22-year-old Ugandan, who trains in Eldoret, pushed Mo Farah all the way in the 10,000m at the World Championships in London ultimately taking the silver medal behind the multiple world and Olympic champion.
"I have returned back to action. The injury is healed and now the question is how fast I can run," he said Saturday.
Cheptegei, who last year came within four seconds of the world best for 15km in Nijmegen, will be making his second appearance at the Dam tot Damloop after finishing second in 2016.
Belgium's Bashir Abdi, the European Championships silver medalist looks set to be Cheptegei's main opponent on Sunday. Ayele Abshero will also be a strong challenger having clocked 2:07:19 at the Hamburg Marathon earlier this year. He is also a former winner of the Dubai Marathon, and the Egmond Half Marathon.
The course record of 44:27 is just three seconds shy of the world best and was set by Leonard Komon in 2011, one year after the Kenyan set a world 10km record and world 15km best.
As is tradition at this race, the women's field will set off before the men with a head start of 6:04 - the difference between the men's and women's course records. The first athlete to finish, man or woman, will receive a bonus of 5000 euros. Joyce Chepkirui, the 2013 winner, was the last woman to scoop the bonus.
Israel's Lonah Salpeter and Susan Krumins of the Netherlands, the top two finishers from the 10,000m at the European Championships, headline this year's women's field.
Meanwhile, reigning Buenos Aries Marathon champions Barnabas Kiptum of Kenya and Amelework Fekadu of Ethiopia will defend their Buenos Aires marathon titles on Sunday. Kiptum set a race record of 2:09:43 last year, while Fekadu grabbed victory in the women's race in 2:35:26. The women's race record belongs to another Ethiopian, Abeba Gebremeskel with 2:30:33 from 2015.
Marius Kipserem possesses the fastest time of the field with his 2:06:11 victory at the 2016 Rotterdam Marathon, where this year he was fifth with 2:07:22. His main rival appears to be Kiptum, who has twice ran inside 2:10 - last year in Buenos Aires and in 2016 in Cape Town (2:09:21). The 31-year-old Kiptum has a season's best of 2:10:17 from his third-place finish at the Milan Marathon in April.
