Olympic champ Jebet to battle Aprot in Spain cross country

Revenge will be in the air when Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion Ruth Jebet of Bahrain meets Kenya's Alice Aprot during the international cross country meet in Marca, Spain on Sunday.

During their first meeting on Nov 12 in Seville, Africa Cross Country silver medallist Aprot emerged the winner, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, that will count for nothing when the two meet in Marca, the third stop of the seven IAAF Cross Country Permit meetings for the 2017-2018 season.

"It is down to your preparations. I have done mine well and believe in the strides of my legs. Jebet is a strong challenger, and we have clashed severally on the track, but I have always had better endurance," said Aprot.

Alongside Aprot, Jebet will face Spain's Trihas Gebre and Portugal's Ines Monteiro.

Both Aprot and Jebet are eyeing a slot in their national teams to compete at respective continental cross country meets.

Jebet will compete in Jordan for the Asian cross Country championships while Aprot is hopeful she will be selected to compete in Chlef, Algeria for the Africa Cross Country Championships. Both events are in March and will be the culmination of the cross country season.

The IAAF cross country series has seven individual meetings in four different countries. Other races will be in Antrim (Britain), San Giorgio (Italy), Elgoibar, Seville (Spain), San Vittore Olona (Italy) and the final will be in Albufeira (Portugal) in February.

--IANS

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