Kenyans chase medals on opening day of World U20 at Kasarani

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 18 – Kenya will have an opportunity of bagging its first medal on the opening day of the World Athletics Under-20 Championships which gun off on Wednesday at the Moi Sports Centre Kasarani, with the final of the men’s 3,000m closing down the day.

Kenya will be represented by the Keringet Athletics Club duo of Bernard Kibet and Daniel Kinyanjui in the hunt for medals, the race gunning off at 5:45pm.

Kibet, 17, won the Kenyan trials in a time of 7:55.01, with Kinyanjui finishing second in 7:55.96.

Kinyanjui will be out to make amends after missing out on the World Under-18 Championships in 2017 and he hopes he can top up his qualification into the team with a medal in the race.

The Kenyan duo who are the third and fourth fastest in the field, will face stiff competition from an equally loaded Ethiopian field that has World Cross Country Under-20 silver medalist Tadese Worku and compatriot Ali Abdilmana.

Worku is the fastest man on the field this season, having clocked 7:34.75 to finish second at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix last month. He had previously run 7:37.48 as he finished seventh at the Oslo leg of the Diamond League.

The Ethiopian also tried his luck at the Ethiopian Olympic Games trials in Hengelo, Netherlands where he finished fifth in the 5,000m. Compatriot Abdilmana finished ninth in the same race.

Meanwhile, Kenya starts off the day with the heats of the 400m mixed relay which will be the event’s opening race at 9am. The Kenyan team will be in Heat Two, competing against Ecuqdor, South Africa, Italy and Nigeria.

Kenya will also have a representative in the women’s 100m with Mercy Chebet, on a personal best time of 12.60 set at the national trials in Nairobi, competing in heat three. She faces stiff competition as all other athletes in the heat have hit a sub 12sec time this season.

All eyes will be on Namibia’s Beatrice Masilingi in the heat.

The 18-year old Namibian was at the Tokyo Olympic Games and is currently in the centre of a storm with World Athletics.

Just before the Olympics, World Athletics had announced that Masilingi and compatriot Christine Mboma would not be allowed to compete under the female classification in events between 400 metres and one mile due to WA regulations on XY DSD athletes with naturally high testosterone levels.

Masilingi will be making her second appearance in Kenya having competed at last year’s Kip Keino Classic at the Nyayo National Stadium where she ran 50.99 in the 400m to set a new African Under-18 record.

In Tokyo, Masilingi withdrew from the 400m race and competed in the 200m where she placed sixth.

Meanwhile in the men’s corresponding sprint, Sylvester Simiyu will fly the Kenyan flag. Simiyu has a personal best time of 10.79secs and though he is the slowest in the field, he has vowed to up his game and compete for a place in the semi-finals.

At the same time, more Kenyans will be in action on the opening day with Dominic Kiprotich competing in the men’s shot out. He has the shortest throw in the field this season, a range of 14.05m.

In the women’s 400m, Sylvia Chelengat, with a season’s best time of 55.21 will be Kenya’s representative in the opening round and will be competing in Heat Three.

In the corresponding men’s race, Elkanah Kiprotich, with a Personal Best time of 47.22 will race in Heat Two at 11:47am while compatriot Kennedy Kimeu, with a time of 47.13 will be in Heat Three, seven minutes later.