Bernard Lagat passes Augustine Choge in the 3000m (© Getty Images)
The three reigning 3000m world indoor medallists will clash over the same distance on 1 February at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, the first leg of the 2013 IAAF Indoor Permit series.
Bernard Lagat, the world indoor champion, will take on the Kenyan pair of Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi, the silver and bronze medallists respectively at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
Lagat, now 39, also defeated Choge when winning in Karlsruhe last year, clocking 7:34.71, his fastest indoor 3000m time since 2008.
But Choge is no stranger to winning in the German city. Two years ago in a memorable race against Soi, the pair crossed the line neck-and-neck, stopping the clock on 7:29.94 with Choge being awarded the victory.
It was still a few seconds shy of the meeting record, though. That belongs to Haile Gebrselassie, whose mark of 7:26.15 was a world indoor record when he set it in 1998. It lasted less than two weeks as Daniel Komen bettered it with 7:24.90, which remains the existing world indoor record.
Also in the race is European indoor champion Hayle Ibrahimov of Azerbaijan and European silver medallist Arne Gabius of Germany.
Gabius will be aiming to break the German indoor record of 7:37.51, set 19 years ago in Karlsruhe by Dieter Baumann. 32-year-old Gabius came within one second of the mark in Karlsruhe two years ago, clocking a PB of 7:38.13.
The 3000m quintet are the latest athletes to be revealed for Karlsruhe. Among those previously announced for the meeting are two-time world champion David Storl and two-time Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski in the shot, and world champion Raphael Holzdeppe and Olympic silver medallist Bjorn Otto in the pole vault.
Jon Mulkeen and organisers for the IAAF
