Focused Otieno seeks to break new sprints ground

Kenyan sprinter Mark Otieno is pulling no stops when he takes to the blocks in the 100 metres in Friday’s qualification races, eying history as the first Kenyan to compete over the distance at the World Championships.

The late Kennedy Ondiek remains the most accomplished 100m and 200m runner in Kenya’s history, having competed in the 100m and 200m at the 1988 (Seoul) and 1992 (Barcelona) Olympics and the 200m in the 1991 (Tokyo) and 1993 (Stuttgart) World Championships.

Ondiek made the quarters in Seoul and Barcelona and also at the two World Championships appearances.

Otieno, 24, takes off in the first of the four preliminary rounds heats, with his national record and season’s best time of 10.14 seconds, ranking him the best in the preliminaries.

Otieno, whose national record on June 10 put him 38th in the list of 56 athletes, who qualified for the world event, will also represent the country in 200m.

Kenya sprints coach Vincent Mumo said Otieno had greatly improved since breaking the national record in June.

“His speed endurance especially after 50m has gone up and his explosion off the blocks is excellent,” said Mumo adding that he was likely to better his personal best in both 100m and 200m races.

Otieno, who will be representing Kenya for the third time after competing in 100m at the 2015 African Games in Congo Brazzaville and in 4x200m at 2017 World Relays in Bahamas, said he is not in London to make up the numbers.

“We are here on serious business and God speed to me,” said a deeplyreligious Otieno, who attributes his success to his prayer group besides his coach Wesonga.

“It’s all about the power of prayer where I put in my best foot forward with God taking care of the rest.”

“It’s so exciting to be in London and this is historic for me and Kenya. I hope not to disappoint,” said Otieno.