The final of the women's 10,000 meters is scheduled to take place on Saturday night, right after the opening ceremony of the IAAF World Championships in this South Korean city.

A total of 19 runners will be doing their best to win the gold medal -- the second one of the Daegu World Championships. None of the runners is from China, though the event's world record is still held by former Chinese distance runner Wang Junxia, who ran 29:31.79 in September of 1993.

It is the third time that the women's 10,000 meters at the World Championships starts without a Chinese athlete, after Osaka in 2007 and Berlin in 2009.

In August 2005, China's Sun Yingjie and Xing Huina ran in the final in the Helsinki World Championships. The gold medal of the event went to Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, just two months after she had made her debut at the women's 10,000m.

Six years later, Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot of Kenya is seeking to emulate Dibaba in winning the gold medal at the World Championships 10,000m in the same year as her debut at the distance.

In April, a week after she had won the World Cross Country title, Cheruiyot ran 31:07.02 in Pontevedra, Spain. Her only other race at the distance was the Kenyan trial, to make the team for Daegu.

That 28-year-old Cheruiyot is in great form. In her most recent race, she won the 5,000 meters at the DN Galan Samsung Diamond League in Stockholm, running a personal best 14:20.87. She is also the defending world champion at 5,000m and will run that distance, but the 10,000m comes first on the opening night.

Cheruiyot wants to double in Daegu. To win the 10,000m, she will have to thwart the similar ambition of her teammates Linet Masai and Priscah Jepleting Cherono. The pair has already had two memorable races over Cross Country this year, Masai winning the Kenyan championship, Cheruiyot triumphant on the bigger stage of the World Cross Country at Punta Umbria.

The Kenyan team will be challenged by three runners from Africa's another formidable athletics power -- Ethiopia. The three Ethiopian runners were Meselech Melkamu, Tigist Kiros and Meseret Defar.

Established star Defar ran a 31:05.05 in Sicily and announced she wants to attempt the double in Daegu.

The U.S. has taken two bronze medals in the 10,000m of recent years -- Kara Goucher in Osaka 2007 and Flanagan in the Beijing Olympic race. Both those two, and Jennifer Rhines, are running in Daegu and will be in the minor medal hunt for sure.

Japan has pinned its hopes on the less experienced Kayo Sugihara (31:34.45 in Stanford), 21-year-old Hikari Yoshimoto and 22-year-old Megumi Kinukawa.