Our athletes should raise Ostrava bar

Kenya's Hellen Obiri celebrates after winning the 5,000m gold medal at the 21st African Athletics Championships in Asaba on August 2, 2018. PHOTO | ELIAS MAKORI |

By  Barnaba Korir

What you need to know:

  • Africa 800m silver medallist, Emmanuel Korir, will also be in the mix.

  • Sprints and field events are currently Kenya’s priority as we seek to expand the medal horizon. 

With only two weeks to the Continental Cup in Ostrava, Czech Republic, I want to urge our athletes to set the bar even higher as they seek to fly the country’s flag once again.

Kenya will be represented by nine athletes in the September 8-9 event, according to the list of 74 released by the Confederation of Africa Athletics.

Eight of the countries gold medalists at the recent African Athletics Championships in Asaba, Nigeria, will don the continental colours, namely Winnie Chebet (1,500 metres), Hellen Obiri (3,000m), Beatrice Chepkoech (3,000m steeplechase), Elijah Manangoi (1,500m), Edward Zakayo (3,000m), Kipruto Conseslus (3,000m steeplechase), Mathew Sawe (high jump) and Julius Yego (javelin).

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Africa 800m silver medallist, Emmanuel Korir, will also be in the mix.

RELAY TEAMS

How I wish our Kenyan 4x400m men’s and mixed relay teams would have benefitted from this experience!

The quartet of Emmanuel Korir, Alphas Kishoyian, Jared Momanyi and Aaron Koech ran a fantastic race in Asaba, settling for gold medal and their experience in Ostrava would have gone a long way in ensuring they stay focused ahead of next year’s World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Sprints and field events are currently Kenya’s priority as we seek to expand the medal horizon. 

I am happy our high jumper Sawe will be the mix.

He had another build-up for the event in Birmingham Diamond League last weekend, where he placed fifth after clearing 2.20 metres. Not bad!

SUPER POWERS

An opportunity in 4x400m relay would also have ensured that we test ourselves against sprints super powers USA, Jamaica and Bahamas, among others.

I expect Conseslus and world record holder Chepkoech to maintain Kenya’s tradition in the 3,000m steeplechase as Yego seeks to revive himself in javelin.

Manangoi (1,500m), Zakayo (3,000m), Obiri (1,500m) and Korir (800m) will almost be unbeatable in their respective races. A marked improvement is also expected from Sawe in high jump and so is Winnie Chebet in the women’s 1,500m.

This year’s edition is the third of the IAAF Continental Cup, the successor to 10 editions of the IAAF World Cup whose inaugural edition took place in Dusseldorf in September 2 to 4, 1977.

Korir is the chairman of Athletics Kenya’s Nairobi Branch. [email protected]

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