NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 5 – Kenya’s campaign in athletics at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham continues on Friday afternoon with several preliminary races lined up.
Here is how Kenya’s line up on day eight of the ‘Club Games’ looks like.
1:15pm – Women’s 1500m Heats
Kenya will be represented by two athletes in the women’s 1500m, African champion and Edinah Jebitok lining up, both fresh from the World Championships in Oregon.
Youngster Jebitok will be first up in Heat One where she will line up against Home Nation girl Laura Muir of Scotland, the only one to run a sub four-minute time this season. She is fresh from winning bronze at the World Championships
Australian Linden Hall who has run 4:00.58 this season will also be another athlete to watch out for against Jebitok.
African champion Chebet will line up in the second semi-final Heat and will look to make amends for her disastrous campaign at the World Championships where she finished bottom of the pile in the final.
Australia’s Jessica Hull is the only sub-4 athlete in the Heat while Chebet will also need to contend with Uganda’s 2019 World Champion Winny Nanyondo in the Heat.
1:49pm – Men’s 4x400m Relay Heats
Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Korir will look to put the ghosts of his earlier 400m disqualification behind his back when he anchors the Kenyan 4 by 400m relay team.
Korir had seemed to have progressed to the semis of the 400m after winning his Heat, but was disqualified for lane infringement. He will team up with Wycliffe Kinayamal, Wiseman Were and Boniface Mweresa in this race for Kenya.
The team however has the slowest time in the Heat this season in their Heat. They come up against Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, India as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands.
9:09pm – Men’s 200m Semis
All three of Kenya’s representatives in the men’s 200m progressed to the semis. Hesborn Ochieng who progressed on a non-automatic slot will be first up in Heat One and has the second slowest time this season in the group.
Dan Kiviasi who easily won his preliminary round on Thursday lines up in Heat Two where he will contest with homeboy Adam Gemili.
Mike Mokamba will then be the last Kenyan on the track as he contests in the third semi-final.
9:40pm – Women’s 400m Semis
Veronica Mutua will be Kenya’s lone ranger in the 400m after Mary Moraa literally dragged her feet to the finish line in the Heats.
She will line up in the second of two semi-final Heats.
11pm – Men’s 400m Semis
Just like in the women’s race, Kenya will have only one representative in the men’s 400m, Boniface Mweresa flying the flag. Mweresa did not go past the semis at the 2018 Games in Gold Coast Australia and will look to go one better.
11:42pm – Women’s 3,000m steeplechase final
Celiphine Chespol, bronze medal winner at the 2018 Games in Gold Coast, Australia, has been ruled out of Friday night’s final after failing to recover in time from a knee injury she picked at the World Championships a fortnight ago.
With her absence, that now leaves World Under-10 Champion Jackline Chepkoech as Kenya’s only medal hopeful in the event. Kenya only fronted two names for the event.
Chepkoech who also competed at the World Championships will be tasked with trying to clinch the title last won by Purity Kirui in 2014.
She will face a tough field that includes Tokyo Olympics champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda, but will fancy her chances as the third fastest athlete in the field this season.
