AK gears up for World Relays Championships
Athletics Kenya vice chairman David Okeyo. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
- Athletics body to start identifying sprinters at Safaricom event in Langata this weekend
Athletics Kenya (AK) will this Saturday begin the process of selecting sprinters who will represent the country at the World Relays Championships in Nassau, Bahamas in May.
AK has invited sprinters, who are also gunning for places at next year’s team to World Championships in Beijing to Saturday’s Safaricom Relays Championships at the Kenya Prisons ground on Langata Road, Nairobi.
AK vice chairman David Okeyo said the meeting will be open to all athletes but implored elite athletes to show up so they may be considered for invitation to the national trials in Nairobi.
The body has called on any athlete with sprinting talent to show up for the event that will also act as part of the association’s selection programme for the Bahamas relays. At the same time, the world athletics governing body, IAAF, has released the programme for the inaugural two-day world relays set for May 24 and 25.
Day One on May 24 will feature four finals in the men’s 4x800 metres, women’s 4x1,500m, men’s 4x200m and women’s 4x100m.
May 25 will have six finals; 4x400m (women), 4x1,500m (men), 4x800m (women), 4x400m (men), 4x200m (women) and 4x100m (men).
WORLD CHAPIONSHIPS
The Bahamas event will also act as qualifiers for next year’s World Championships in Beijing for the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m in a new system introduced by the IAAF.
“It is important for the elite runners to show up on Saturday so that they can start their qualification process for both the national trials and the World Relays Championships,” Okeyo said.
“Failure to do this means they will miss out on the championships in Bahamas and Beijing,” Okeyo said after a meeting of the association’s committee organising the relays programme.
Kenya won Olympic medals in the relays at the 1968 in Mexico (silver) and 1972 in Munich (gold) but have since struggled to make an impression in both the relays and individual sprints events.
“We want to restore the glory that our teams brought from the 1968 and 1972 Olympics,” Okeyo added.
