Our athletics need change

The continued drop in performance by Team Kenya following the conclusion of the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru, should have the country worried.

The country collected seven medals; three gold, three silver and one bronze, which was a drop in performance from the 2022 championships held in Cali, Colombia, where the team managed 10 medals; three gold, three silver and four bronze.

The country finished fifth behind USA (8-4-4), Ethiopia (6-2-2), China (4-4-3) and Jamaica (4-0-1) while it wound fourth behind USA (7-4-4), Jamaica (6-7-3) and Ethiopia (6-5-1).

The results from the two editions of the world junior championships must now send those handling the youth and development docket at Athletics Kenya back to the drawing board. They must come up with innovative ways that will bring back the country to the top of the world junior table so that Kenya can be assured of a good future.

There is a need for the country to critically review what it did to top the medal standings in 2018 Tampere, Finland (6-4-1) and 2021 in Nairobi (8-1-7) and come up with ways that will improve athletics in the country and have quality talent coming through the ranks.

Drop in performance

Amid the celebrations from the Paris Olympic Games, the truth is that the country underperformed despite the face-saving efforts by Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet and Emmanuel Wanyonyi.

It should worry the country that only three athletes brought gold medals — Chebet, who claimed a double in 10000m and 5000m, Kipyegon in 1500m and Wanyonyi in 800m.

The truth of the matter is that there was a drop in performance compared to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The dependency on athletics for medals at major games should also be addressed through genuine conversations.

Kipyegon, Chebet and Wanyonyi are some of the athletes that came up through the junior ranks, so AK needs to create a smooth transition with no vacuum allowed.