NAIROBI, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Two time world U-20 women's steeplechase champion Celiphine Chespol of Kenya said she is inspired to work harder in the new season after being named in the final five athletes for the 2018 IAAF Rising Star Award.
Speaking from Eldoret, the 19-year-old said she feels honored and appreciated for the work she has done on the track and hopes she will continue to blossom in 2019 as she eyes the World Cross Country in Denmark and World Championships in Qatar.
"There are so many young athletes who are able to fight and be world champions. But to be selected it means there is some potential and talent that the selectors have seen in you that surpasses the others.
"That is what inspire me and I want to build on this and see that I do well in the new season ahead," she said on Wednesday in Eldoret.
Chespol will be up against four other finalists including Ethiopia's duo of Meseret Belete and Meskerem Mamo, USA's hurdler Sydney McLaughlin as well as Jamaican sprinter Brianna Williams. The winner will be announced live on stage at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2018 in Monaco on Dec. 4.
Last season, Chespol claimed the silver medal at the African Senior Athletics Championships in Asaba, Nigeria and was also second at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. She also successfully defended her U-20 World Junior title in Tampere, Finland in June.
The 19-year-old announced herself into the athletics world in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 2016, when she won her first U-20 world title, just a year after she won the 2,000m U-18 title in Cali, Colombia.
