Published: (Thursday, Jul 14, 2011 04:25AM) Today

Kenya’s Sally Kipyego faces the biggest challenge of her professional career today.

The 25-year-old distance runner, who moved to Eugene in the fall of 2009 to join Oregon Track Club Elite, is scheduled to compete in the 10,000 meters at the Kenyan Trials in Nairobi.

At stake is a chance to represent Kenya at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Aug. 27 to Sept. 4, in Daegu, South Korea.

The first two runners to cross the finish line earn automatic spots on the team.

The third representative, according to guidelines issued by Athletics Kenya, will be a coaches’ wild-card selection based on “previous performances.”

Kipyego, a nine-time NCAA champion at Texas Tech, chose the 10,000 over the 5,000 for the Trials.

She was ranked seventh in the world in the 5,000 by Track & Field News magazine last year after setting a personal best of 14 minutes, 38.64 seconds at a Diamond League meet in Brussels, Belgium.

However, both she and her OTC Elite coach, Mark Rowland, decided she had a better chance to make the Kenyan world team in the 10,000.

Also see - Video interview from Iten, Kenya by LetsRun.com