Make camps permanent
The qualification, at Saturday’s Absa Kip Keino Classic at Nyayo National Stadium, of national champions Zablon Ekwam (400 metres) and Wiseman Were (400m hurdles) for the Paris Olympic Games is inspiring and commendable.
These are the first sprinters to qualify for the Paris Games, although the country hopes to qualify more athletes from the World Relay Championships set for May 4-5 in Nassau, Bahamas. Kenya had only three sprinters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—Emmanuel Korir, Hellen Syombua and Mary Moraa, in 400m.
Were and Ekwam’s results are a result of the ongoing sprinters camps that started before the World Indoor Championships held on March 1-3 in Glasgow, Scotland. Besides, their World Indoor Championships 4x400m team finished fourth in an African record 3:06.71.
It is commendable that Athletics Kenya (AK) have teamed up with the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) and Kenya Breweries Limited to facilitate these camps, which have so far produced good results.
AK and NOC-K now ought to make these camps permanent since having them a few months before the Olympics won’t return the best results. Besides, the ongoing government-backed athletics youth camps should also have deliberate programmes for sprinters and field event athletes.
