Leonard Korir Looking for Third Straight Win at USATF 15 km Championships

By Adam Kopet

Leonard Korir will be seeking his third straight USATF 15 km Championships win Saturday as part of the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, Fla.

Korir won last year's race in 43:06, beating Sam Chelanga by nine seconds. He won in a sprint finish over Shadrack Kipchirchir in 2017, running 43:23.

In addition to being a two-time defending champion of the USATF 15 km Championships, Korir has also won the overall USATF Running Circuit the past two years. He enters Saturday's race in third place in the Running Circuit standings, following his third-place finish at last month's USATF Cross Country Championships.

Kipchirchir, a training partner of Korir, is back for this year's race. He showed strong form to win his first USATF Cross Country title last month to take the lead in the Running Circuit standings. Another American Distance Project training partner competing Saturday is Stanley Kebenei, the 2016 USATF 15 km Championships winner.

Also competing Saturday are Eric Jenkins, Martin Hehir and Ryan Vail. For Jenkins, this will be his first race longer than 10K. He has found previous success at the mile and 5,000 meters and has good closing speed. Hehir finished third in last year's race, 13 seconds back of Korir. Vail, primarily a marathoner, finished sixth in 2018.

The women's race does not appear as strong on paper as the men's. The top returner from the 2018 USATF 15 km Championships is Chelsea Blaase. She ran 50:35, more than two minutes back of the winner, Molly Huddle.

Without the likes of Huddle or Jordan Hasay, who won in 2017 and is racing Sunday in the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon, in this year's field, there is room for a new champion.

Rachel Schneider could fit that bill. She finished 12th at the USATF Cross Country Championships, but then bounced back to finish second in the 3,000 meters at the NYRR Millrose Games, running a personal-best 8:46.44. Schneider has also run 1:16:24 for the half marathon.

A complete list of entrants can be found at USATFRunningCircuit.com.