Moraa dedicates medal to orphans in Nyamira village

An emotional Mary Moraa has dedicated her 800 metres bronze medal from the World Athletics Championships to orphans in her home village of Obwari in Nyamira County.

Moraa gave Team Kenya a respectable wrap-up of the Oregon championships by winning the bronze medal in the early hours of Monday.

She sealed a near-perfect debut at the Worlds by holding off Ethiopian Diribe Welteji to clock a time of one minute and 56.71 seconds at the Hayward Field.

“I have run well. I like the performance I have done. I am happy,” Moraa told journalists moments after the race won by Olympic champion American Athing Mu in a time of 1:56.30 ahead of Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson.

“I dedicate it to the orphans from my village (Obwari in Nyamira). You know I don’t have my parents since 2002,” remarked the 22-year-old who burst onto the scene with 400m silver at the defunct World Athletics U18 Championships at Kasarani in 2017.

Moraa needed to power to the finish-line to hold off the traffic comprising Welteji and Jamaican Natoya behind her.

“It wasn’t easy. I am glad with what I have achieved because in any event, you never know. “

Her medal is the first in this event for Kenya since Eunice Sum posted 1:58.18 in third place at the Beijing Worlds in 2015.

Dominant again

At the time, the race was dominated by Kenya with Janeth Jepkosgei winning the 2007 world title and picking two silver medals in the next two editions in Berlin (2009) and Daegu (2011).

Then, Sum won the world title in Moscow (2013). Moraa believes that Kenya, who also had Naomi Korir reach the semi-finals, can soon be dominant again over the two-lap race.

“So long as you work as a Kenyan team, we can get this race back for the Kenyans. As long as we are together, we can achieve more,” she said.

“I love the team work that other teams are showing. We should bring these medals home,” she added. Welteji led inside 200m and the group crossed the first lap in 57.09 seconds with Mu in second and fellow 20-year-old Hodgkinson in third.

Moraa was fourth at that stage.

After the first bend after the bend, Mu took the lead with Olympic silver medallist Hodgkinson following as Moraa came out in lane 2 for space, Welteji next to her on the inside.

As they approached, Hodgkinson with power almost found space on the inside of Mu, but the latter finished her kick to gold, a race harder than her victory at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan last August.

The Briton picked silver again in a time of 1:56.38 and behind them, Moraa held on for the bronze medal. “My coach told me to control my body until the finals.

After every race, my body is usually tired but the ice has really helped me. I am very happy now,” she added.

She will now shift attention to the Commonwealth Games which get underway in Birmingham, England, this week.

Next year, Moraa will be aiming for gold at the next Worlds in Budapest, Hungary.