NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 15 – With all eyes around the world focused on the Kenyan athletics trials for Tokyo Olympics this week, head coach Julius Kirwa is optimistic about the quality of the athletes entered for the event to run Thursday to Saturday at the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani.
World beaters and Olympic champions, the likes of Faith Kipyegon, Hellen Obiri, Timothy Cheruiyot, Conseslus Kipruto among others will grace the three-day event that will see the top two finishers in all races booking an automatic slot to Tokyo while the third athletes will be decided by a panel of technical team.
However, missing in the list is two-time Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha, who has pulled out of the games due to recurring injuries.
“The good news is that we have a number of athletes who have sustained a high level of performance for quite some time despite the COVID pandemic,” said Kirwa during this month’s trials for the postponed 2020 World Under-20 athletics championships due to be held in Kenya in August.
The athletes include the 2018 Commonwealth 800m champion Wycliffe Kinyamal who, like Rudisha, is a Maasai from the Transmara region of western Kenya.
Kinyamal won the second Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha with a season’s best time of 1:43.91, finishing ahead of his more experienced countryman Ferguson Rotich (1:44.45), and Britain’s Daniel Rowden.
Olympic 1,500m champion Kipyegon has also put in strong recent performances, winning back-to-back Diamond League races in world-leading times in the 800m in Doha, and 1500m in Florence.
Equally, Eliud Kipchoge’s coach Patrick Sang has tipped Kenyan athletes to put a good show at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
However, he lamented that the lack of local and international competitions during the coronavirus pandemic may have a negative impact on athletes’ performance at the Kenya trials.
“Opportunities were not available for the athletes to test themselves for the Olympics during this COVID period. But the dynamics of competition are different when the athletes are facing such selections,” Olympic and three-time World 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist Patrick Sang said.
Sang, who since his retirement has become well known for coaching Kenya’s Olympic and world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge, nevertheless has high hopes for Kenya’s runners.
“We have a lot of talented athletes ready to represent Kenya,” he said. “Where in the world do you see two men’s 5,000m semi-finalists in an Olympic trial, or 20 qualifiers in the men’s 800 metres?”
