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The refugee, who trains in Switzerland, also wants to get started in his second Diamond League appearance.
Dominic Lobalu surprised everyone in Stockholm at the end of June. The South Sudanese refugee, who has been training in St. Gallen for three years, surprisingly ran to victory over 3000 m at the Diamond League meeting in the Swedish capital. And in 7:29.48 minutes he also set a new season record that still stands today.
His trainer Markus Hagmann could hardly believe his own eyes in front of the TV set when Lobalu passed Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo on the home stretch – after all, he was the Olympic bronze medalist in the 10,000 m.
“I had no voice for over a week because I had screamed myself so hoarse,” says Hagmann in Monaco, where Lobalu will start in the Diamond League for the second time on Wednesday evening. Hagmann had not thought it possible that his protégé would run so fast and improve his personal best by 20 seconds.
But Lobalu is an absolute competitive type: “That’s Dominic. The competition is much easier for him than the training. He then no longer feels his limits and can grow again. »
The athlete himself smelled a rat after the fantastic debut. He wants to be the first to cross the finish line again in the Stade Louis II, he says as a bold motto. “I’m not nervous. We trained a lot. I’m ready for the race.”
Will the second prank follow?
Unlike in Stockholm, however, it is important to keep up with the top runners right from the start. A race to catch up, as shown by the almost 24-year-old a month and a half ago, takes a lot of energy. “If you’re behind for too long, you can’t get forward,” says Lobalu.
Kiplimo, who set the ninth-fastest 3000m time two years ago, is absent this time. Lobalu’s toughest opponents are likely to be Kenyan Cornelius Kemboi and Australia’s Stewart McSweyn. He left both behind in Stockholm.
World record: “Why not?”
Coach Hagmann wants to continue to carefully build up Lobalu and improve step by step. Then there are almost no limits to natural talent.
Hagmann originally saw the half marathon and the 10,000 m as Lobalus’ parade disciplines. Not necessarily anymore since Stockholm: “Of course it’s tempting to set our sights on the world record over 3000 m. Why not, maybe in two or three years?”
Kenyan Daniel Komen’s world record from 1996 is 7:20.67 minutes – almost 9 seconds below Lobalu’s best time.