Two days later he tried again at the African Games in Rabat, but with his legs yet to recover from Paris he ended up stepping off the track.

"When I ran in Paris I said to my coach, 'I don't have the power'. He told me to relax, that I had to cancel the last Diamond League and I said, 'coach, I have to do it'."

Kipruto wanted one more shot on the world best to know where he stood, but in Brussels he again found himself fading out of contention on the final lap, finishing seventh in 8:14.54 with Getnet Wale winning in 8:06.92.

He had eight seconds to find on the world's best, and just four weeks to find them. Kipruto returned to Kenya a little despondent but it was then that his coach, Japter Keter, changed the focus of his training.

"We did speed work like four times a week for two weeks," says Kipruto, who soon felt the old pop return to his legs. "After those two weeks he wished me good luck and said, 'Conseslus, you're going to win the title'."

The pressure was mounting on who was to replace Kipruto and salvage Kenya's pride in Doha.

"After the injuries, people started to say [Kenya] had to depend on [Benjamin] Kigen or other young Kenyans. For me, I didn't want to put myself in that pressure. I told people, I'm not going to bring that pressure because if you do that you're going to lose your mind."

His solution? "I keep training - that's how to handle things." Despite all that - or, perversely, could it be because of all that - Kipruto somehow got himself to the starting line. Nobody saw that coming. During the finals in Doha, Kipruto was up against Ethiopians and Moroccan El Bakkali.

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