Junior championship to start a day later at Kasarani Stadium
Kenyan sprinters Alocious Kipngetich, Lucy Morara, Jonathan Wambua and Patrick Muindi warm down on August 14, 2021 after training at Kasarani Stadium ahead of the 2021 World Athletics Undr-20 Championships which will take place from August 18.
What you need to know:
- The junior track and field championship which had been scheduled to be held from August 17-22 will now begin on August 18 and end on August 22
- Orogot, who is coached by Dennis Mwenzo, has been training at Kasarani Stadium and on the track at Kamiti
- Orogot looks up to legendary Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Cheptegei
With the programme reduced by one day, competitors in the 2021 World Athletics Under-20 Championship should expect a fuller and faster paced event at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.
The junior track and field championship which had been scheduled to be held from August 17-22 will now begin on August 18 and end on August 22.
On Saturday, World Athletics said the impact of Covid on teams travelling, and logistics of moving vital equipment around the world have occasioned the change.
“However, the full athletics timetable is able to be accommodated across five days rather than over five-and-a-half days with minimal impact on the athletes attending from more than 100 countries,” World Athletics said in a statement yesterday.
“The new schedule delivers a fuller and faster paced event and we are delighted that the broadcast rights for these championships have been taken up by more than 14 countries, with 12 of them showing the event live. For all other countries, World Athletics will be livestreaming the morning and evening sessions on its YouTube channel,” the statement added.
NTV will broadcast the championship live from Kasarani Stadium.
Teams from many countries have already arrived in the country and are booked in various athletes hotels ahead of the championships with Nyayo Stadium as the official training ground for various teams.
Some 1,460 athletes are expected in Kenya for the five-day age-group championship.
Meanwhile, Ugandan sprinter Tarsis Orogot who has camped in Nairobi for the last seven months is optimistic of a good performance in men’s 100m and 200m races at the championship. The junior athlete competed in the Kenyan Under-20 trials at Kasarani Stadium from July 1-3 as a guest athlete.
Orogot told Nation Sport that he has acclimatised and is looking forward to taking something good back home.
“I came to Nairobi to seek qualification for the Olympic Games which I narrowly missed after running my personal best time of 10.35sec over 100m which, however, is a national record. The qualification mark was 10.05, but I’m happy because I won a slot to represent Uganda in the junior event,” said Orogot.
He is motivated by the good performance by his seniors Joshua Cheptegei, Peruth Chemutai and Jacob Kiplimo who won medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“After seeing my seniors win medals in Tokyo motivated me and I look forward to emulating them at the championships,” he said.
Orogot, who is coached by Dennis Mwenzo, has been training at Kasarani Stadium and on the track at Kamiti.
“My coaches have done their best and my target now is to win and have the Ugandan national anthem played. I have an added advantage, having used the Kasarani track for training. It will be a real battle starting Wednesday,” Orogot, who is currently ranked eighth in the world said.
The athlete from Soroti in Eastern Uganda has a personal best of 20.71 over 200m. He will come up against Kenya’s Jonathan Wambua (PB 22.51), South Africans Sinesipho Dambile (20.56), Letlhogonolo Moleyane (20.87) and Benjamin Richardson (20.63) among others.
He looks up to legendary Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and Cheptegei.
