Omanyala, Moraa lead Kenyan battle in Botswana

Ferdinand Omanyala

Ferdinand Omanyala (left) and Samuel Imeta all smiles during the Athletics Kenya meeting on February 24, 2023 at Nyayo National Stadium.

Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Moraa will highlight the 400m battle as she seeks to refine her speed ahead of her 800m season while Naomi Korir will compete in women’s 800m.
  • Olympic 800m silver medallist Ferguson Rotich, Africa 1,500m champion Abel Kipsang and Cornelius Tuwei will compete in 800m with Were battling in 400m hurdles.

Athletics Kenya aim to qualify the men’s 4x100 metres and 4x 400m mixed relay teams for the World Athletics Championships from the Botswana Golden Grand scheduled for Saturday in Gaborone.

Commonwealth Games champions Ferdinand Omanyala (100m) and Mary Moraa (800m) will be at the centre of the country’s quest as it pursues to attain the qualifying standards for the World Athletics Championships scheduled for August 19 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary.

Omanyala, who is fresh from winning Athletics South Africa Grand Prix I and II in Pretoria and Johannesburg respectively, will lead the 4x100m battle.

The team that also has Samuel Imeta, Hesbon Ochieng and Steven Onyango, will be aiming to push Kenya that is currently ranked 18th in the world to the top 16 that is the cut-off.

Kenya is placed 18th in the world with the time of 38.92 seconds from their semi-final performance at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year.

The top 12 teams that competed at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States automatically qualified for the Budapest event.

They will be joined by the four other teams that will be ranked in top 16 in the world at the end of the qualifying period on July 31.

Turkey is currently placed 16th with a time of 38.74 while Nigeria is 17th 38.81 hence “Team Imeta” must strike a time below 38.74 and hope that no other country will go under by the end of qualifying period.

“We have a strong team and I believe we shall post good times to go below 38.74,” said relay coach Elkana Nyangau. “We have five athletes who have run 10.10 seconds in the country and things look good.”  

Moraa, the national 400m record holder, will team up with the national 400m hurdles champion Wiseman Were, Boniface Mweresa, who finished fourth in 400m at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and Naomi Chebet.

The top 12 placed teams at the world event in Oregon and the next four teams will qualify in the mixed relays for Budapest. Kenya isn’t ranked in the event in the world.

Germany is currently placed 16th in the world in the mixed relay with a time of 3:22.41, a time Kenya will be eying to beat in Botswana.

Besides the relay, Omanyala, the Africa 100m champion,  will also go head-on with world 100m and 4x100m silver medallist Marvin Bracy and world 4x100m champion Aaron Brown from Canada.

Also to watch out is home athlete world under-20 100m champion Letsile Tebogo.

Moraa will highlight the 400m battle as she seeks to refine her speed ahead of her 800m season while Naomi Korir will compete in women’s 800m.

Olympic 800m silver medallist Ferguson Rotich, Africa 1,500m champion Abel Kipsang and Cornelius Tuwei will compete in 800m with Were battling in 400m hurdles.