Mumias calls as Eunice Sum seeks season spark
Eunice Sum in action during a past training session. PHOTO | FILE |
What you need to know:
- Second AK meet starts Friday
- Ex-world 800m champ eager to forget last year’s woes with her first competitive race
Twenty-thirteen world 800m champion Eunice Sum is among elite athletes expected at the second Athletics Kenya track and field meeting starting Friday at Mumias Sports Complex.
Sum, who lost her world title in the 2015 Beijing Championships, settling for bronze, hopes to put behind a bad outing at Rio Olympic Games last year where she failed to go past the semi-finals.
“Mumias will be my first race this season and I just want to see how the body responds. I am looking forward to the competition,” said Sum, whose main target is to reclaim her title during the World Championships in London in August.
But first things first, the 29-year-old Sum, who boast of personal best 1 minutes and 56.99 seconds over the distance be heading to Doha for her Diamond League opening competition on May 5 after racing in Mumias.
Sum lost to Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya and Ethiopian Alemu Habitam in Doha last year.
Sum is the winner of the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Diamond League 800m Series.
Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto, who launched his season with victory in 5,000m in the opening leg of the AK track and field meeting in Bondo last weekend, is headed for Mumias.
Kipruto will take on fellow steeplechaser Jairus Birech and Nixon Chepseba among others in the 5,000m.
Athletics Kenya Western Region Chairman Francis Afundi said that preparations to host the two-day championships are complete.
“We have spent the entire week working on the track.
“I am assuring the participants that they will have good competition,” said Afundi.
The Mumias meet will pull participation from the rich high altitude regions of Mt Elgon, Kapsabet, Nandi Hills and Kaptagat as well as Kericho and Keringet in the South Rift.
“The fans here are waiting to witness a rare spectacle when their sons and daughters from Western meet their match from other regions,” said Afundi.
“The sprinters will have great opportunities to attain their Personal Best.”
Afundi said athletes from Uganda are expected to grace the meeting.
