Yego primed for title assault after shifting base to Finland
PHOTO | MOHAMMED AMIN | NATION Julius Yego competes during the Athletics Kenya mini trials at the Nyayo National Stadium on April 17 2012. He posted 79.95 to set a new national record and also qualify for the London Olympics.
Reigning All Africa Games and Africa javelin champion Julius Yego has shifted his training base from London to Finland as he steps up training ahead of his Olympics debut in London.
The 23-year-old Police corporal arrived in Helsinki on Tuesday evening and will compete in two championships before heading back to London to compete in his specialty starting from August 8.
Yego, who joined some members of Team Kenya on July 6 in training at Bristol University, said he has greatly gained from training using the facilities at the university.
“I have maximised on the use of facilities during training,” Yego, who has been training without a coach in Britain, said. Although he has become used to training alone, his coach Petteri Pironnen of Finland has been providing him with a refined training programme.
“I hope to meet him again here in Finland before I head back to London,” explained Yego.
Steady rise
The athlete has had a steady rise to the top. After winning bronze with a throw of 74.51 metres at the 2010 African Championships in Nairobi, he made the New Delhi Commonwealth Games the same year where he finished seventh.
While training alone at Kasarani in readiness for the 2011 All Africa Games in Maputo, he learnt some techniques from YouTube which spurred him to victory with a throw of 78.34m, a new national record which made him the first Kenyan to win a field events title.
After two months of training at the IAAF-recognised centre in Kuortane, Finland, Yego returned to Kenya and broke his own record with a throw of 79.95m on April 17.
The throw was enough to surpass Olympic ‘B’ Standard distance of 79.50m, which earned him a ticket to London.
He went back to Kuortane in May for another three weeks of training before returning to Kenya ahead of the African Championships in Porto Novo, Benin, last month where he won the title with a throw of 76.68m.
Yego, who is married to Sincy Yego said holding two African titles is humbling but he is eyeing the finals at the Olympics.
Yego, who was promoted to the rank of corporal after his Maputo triumph, embraced javelin in 2003 while in secondary school upon ditching football and sprint events (200m and 400m).
