NAIROBI, May 25 -- Kenyan champions Geoffrey Kamworor, Agnes Tirop and Pauline Kamulu expect a good performance in road races as they head to India for the world 10k in Bengaluru, Mumbai on Sunday.
Kamworor, the world half marathon champion, has not run on the road since winning the New York Marathon in November.
Kamworor, 25, has established himself as one of the world's leading distance runners in recent years, winning the last two world cross country and world half marathon titles.
In Bengaluru, he will face defending champion Alex Korio, who also won this race in 2013. "I have cleared my training without a hitch. I look forward to good results," said Kamworor on Friday.
But Korio will give Kamworor a run for his money. The 27-year-old race defending champion was an impressive winner last year, beating a world-class field by 14 seconds.
He also reduced his half marathon best to 58:51 in Copenhagen later in the year.
He will come to the Indian race with a point to prove, however, after having to drop out in the world championship event in Valencia back in March.
In addition to Korio and Kamworor, who won here in 2017 and 2017, another two-time winner in Bengaluru to return for this year's race is Ethiopia's Mosinet Geremew, who took the title in 2017 and 2016. Geremew is also the winner of Yangzhou Half-Marathon in China and the Dubai Marathon.
In the women's race, Tirop, a former world cross country winner in Nanjing, China has shaken off the ankle injury which slowed her down in 2017 and eyes a good start in 2018.
Tirop, still only 22, won the 2017 world cross country title and has proven herself to be a formidable competitor on the track as well. She won the IAAF World Championships 10,000m bronze medal in London last year.
"I feel I am back in top form and will be keen to shake off any rust from a long layoff as I prepare for the Africa Championships," said Tirop.
The Africa Championships, the premier continental athletics meeting this year, and will be held in Asaba, Nigeria from Aug 1-5.
Tirop will up against defending champion Netsanet Gudeta of Ethiopia, who is also the world half-marathon winner.
A third Kenyan, Caroline Kipkirui, doesn't have the international championships credentials of her two compatriots but has shown stunning form recently when winning the Doha 3,000m in a personal best of 8:29.05 and also running a 10km best of 30:28 when finishing second in Prague last month.