NAIROBI, Kenya, February 8 – Commonwealth Games 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala headlines a star-studded Team Kenya that head to Glasgow at the end of this month for the World Indoor Championships.
Omanyala will competing in the men’s 60m and will be making his second appearance in the global event after the last edition in 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia.
On that occasion, Africa’s fastest man failed to reach the finals after clocking 6.64 seconds to finish fourth in the semi-finals.
Heading to Scotland, Omanyala will be buoyed by his latest exploits in Miramas, France where he clocked a meet record of 6.52 seconds at the Miramas Metropole Indoor meet on Friday night.
He will be in action this weekend for his second indoor race in Paris.
Kibet returns
Also making a return to the World Indoor Championships is youngster Noah Kibet who was one of stars in Serbia where he won silver in the men’s 800m after clocking 1:46.35.
He will be hoping to resuscitate his dwindling fortunes at the international level.
Kibet, who was widely touted as one of the future giants in the men’s one-lap race, failed to qualify for the last two editions of the World Championships in Oregon and Budapest — in addition to finishing seventh at the 2022 World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.
He will be joined in the men’s 800m by Collins Kipruto who is no stranger to the World Indoor Championships, having competed and finished fourth in the same race in Belgrade.
The 11-athlete team also boasts a number of young debutants including the 2021 World Under 20 3000m champion Teresia Gateri, World Under 20 1500m champion Reynold Cheruiyot and the 2021 World Under 20 1500m champion Vincent Keter.
The trio will be hoping the World Indoor Championships is the door that leads them up to success in the senior ranks after a somewhat lukewarm start to their careers at this level.
Athletics Kenya (AK) executive committee member David Miano will be in charge of the team with Bernard Ouma as the coach.
