体坛英语新闻：Kenya's Kamworor seeks to return stronger after COVID-19 crisis

NAIROBI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Had everything gone to plan, Kenyan long-distance star Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor would now be a four-time World Half Marathon champion and record holder over the distance.

However, like many elite athletes worldwide, his plans for the 2020 season, that included a possible tilt at placing at the track and field World Championships or a fall marathon in Berlin and New York, were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking during the third National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) online forum titled "The Home Athlete Nutrition Plan," on Friday evening, Kamworor said he has been training alone at home.

Despite his plans for the season being grounded, he expressed his desire to pick up from where he left off once competition resumes, and has even purchased a treadmill to keep fit as he follows the self-isolation guidelines during the lockdown.

"When the competition resumes, we will get to come back stronger because this is part of the challenge and we have accepted the challenge and we have taken it as a path to our next achievement. So let them expect greatest results after the pandemic," he assured.

His signature showpiece, the World Half Marathon Championships, was among the first global sporting events to be postponed to later in the year.

World Athletics and local organizers announced the biannual event set for Gdynia, Poland had been pushed from March 29 to October 17.

Since winning his first title in Copenhagen in 2014, Kamworor has become one of the finest distance runners of his generation, winning the next two world half marathon and world cross country titles.

The versatile Kenyan has also collected a pair of New York City Marathon crowns while improving the world record over the half marathon to 58:01, also in Copenhagen, five years after his initial triumph there.

On the track, he famously pushed British icon, Mo Farah, to earn silver at the 2015 Beijing World Championships in China.

In early March, Kamworor was named in the Kenyan men's team for Gdynia alongside, 2020 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon winner, Kibiwott Kandie, Leonard Barsoton, the 2017 world cross country silver medalist, Shadrack Kimining Korir and Victor Kimutai Chumo.

He regrets the postponement and cancellation of spring season events declaring he was in 'top shape' and ready to become only the second man, after Eritrea's Zersenay Tadese (2008 to 2012), to win four successive World Half titles.

"We were in top shape when COVID-19 struck. Staying at home is a major challenge and requires a lot of discipline," he offered.

After the World Half, Kamworor was intent on making the Kenyan team for the marathon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics alongside his mentor and training partner, Eliud Kipchoge, who was penned to defend his crown in Japan before the event was postponed to 2021.