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ON THE RUN: Vivian Cheruiyot

FOUR TIME world champion Vivian Cheruiyot will run her only indoor race this season at the Aviva Grand Prix on Saturday, as she steps up preparations for Olympic gold.

The Kenyan distance runner will make her first appearance of 2012, and only her second since taking 5000m and 10,000m gold at the World Championships in Daegu last summer, at the NIA, where she’ll line up against Aviva GB & NI star Helen Clitheroe in a mouth-watering 3000m clash.

Cheruiyot, who also took the world cross country title in her dream 2011, was last week named Laureus’ Sportswoman of the Year and is hotly tipped to pick up at least one Olympic title at this summer’s Olympic Games.

The 29-year-old has only competed at the Aviva Grand Prix once, back in 2010 in her only ever appearance on these shores, but on that day she set a new, still-standing, national record of 8:30.53; something she intends to do this time around in what she describes as a “key” element to her Olympic timeline.

Cheruiyot said: “I’ve competed indoors in Birmingham once before and ran a Kenyan Record and I’m looking forward to racing there again.

“I will only run one indoor race this year so this will be a key meet for me – to see how my training has worked over the winter season and to see what I need to do in the next few months.

“Winning at Laureus was unbelievable and really unexpected, I’d watched so many other great sportsmen and women get the award over the past few years and I was so pleased to win this year.

“It was a great start to the year and I hope that this is a sign of a good 2012 – which is an incredibly important year and something that we have been working towards for a long time now.

“I have definitely been steadily improving over the last few years and I think that my results, especially in major championships, have shown this to be true."