Kenyan triathlete exits games after freak injury
Mohammed-Suleiman (with hands stretched out) is out of the 2018 Commonwealth Games after a freak accident in training on April 3, 2018. PHOTO | TEAM KENYA |
What you need to know:
Kenya will field Hanifa Said in the women’s triathlon competition which starts from 09:31am (02:31am, Kenyan time) and which will be held around the Southport Broadwater Parklands area.
Suleiman finished ninth at the 2017 All Africa Championships in Mauritius and was sixth at the 2014 Africa Youth Championships and dominated the Kenyan trials for the Commonwealth Games.
Hanifa, 24, featured for Kenya at the 2004 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but failed to finish the competition.
IN GOLD COAST
Kenya will be down to one athlete when the triathlon competition is held Thursday after Mohammed Said Suleiman pulled out after a freak accident in training on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old Suleiman had to undergo surgery on a broken finger on Wednesday with Kenya’s head of delegation here confirming that he would not be on the start list when the men’s competition gets underway at 13:01 local time, which is 06:00am Kenyan time.
Kenya will field Hanifa Said in the women’s triathlon competition which starts from 09:31am (02:31am, Kenyan time) and which will be held around the Southport Broadwater Parklands area.
Suleiman finished ninth at the 2017 All Africa Championships in Mauritius and was sixth at the 2014 Africa Youth Championships and dominated the Kenyan trials for the Commonwealth Games.
Hanifa, 24, featured for Kenya at the 2004 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but failed to finish the competition.
“Suleiman fell down in training yesterday (Tuesday) and in fact, he is due for surgery today after injuring his finger. He will not compete, but I shall give you details later after assessing his condition after the operation,” Kenya’s head of delegation here, Barnabas Korir, told Nation Sport.
The two Kenya triathletes are managed by Chrispine Omondi Onyango.
Africa will be represented by five athletes in the men’s triathlon with South Africa fielding three (Richard Murray, Henri Schoeman and Wian Sullward) the others coming from Namibia (Jeal-Paul Burger) and Mauritius (Timothee Hugnin).
The women’s race has three Africans ¬– South Africa’s Gillian Sanders and Simone Ackerman, along with Kenya’s Said.
The triathlon competition combines swimming, cycling and running in a true test of fitness, tactics and endurance.
Most recently, the competition format has switched from the Olympic distance to the sprint format, comprising a 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike race and five-kilometre run.
