In Belgrade

The 18-kilometre drive from Nikola Tesla Airport to downtown Belgrade is therapeutic.

It’s serene, with no grabbed, over-developed plots or ugly construction sites, despite the Serbian capital’s approximated 7,000 years of existence.

Winter is slowly sinking into the horizon with the promise of spring whetting the appetite of tourists who would be spoilt for choice touring Belgrade’s iconic monuments rich in history.

Team Kenya to the World Indoor Athletics Championships, that run here from Friday to Sunday already felt quite at home as they left the airport for their Mona Plaza Hotel, which they are sharing with Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa and numerous other nations here for the three days of indoor action.

Ferdinand Omanyala will be making his debut at a global indoors meet, the first time Kenya has fielded a sprinter at these championships.

Africa’s fastest man (9.77 seconds in the 100 metres) will be gunning for his first global medal, his form making him among the notable entries in the 60-metre sprint.

Kenya has entered 10 athletes, the largest ever contingent to these indoor championships that are traditionally hosted in the tail-end of the winter season.

The others are Collins Kipruto (800 metres), Noah Kibet (800m), Abel Kipsang (1,500m), Jacob Krop (3,000m), Daniel Simiu (3,000m), Naomi Korir (800), Eglay Nalianya (800), Edinah Jebitok (1,500m, 3,000m) and Beatrice Chebet (3,000m).

Travelling officials are Barnaba Kitilit (team leader), Hassan Ahmed (technical leader), Janeth Jepkosgei (team coach), Francis Philomena (doctor), Lydia Muraya and Irene Wamui.

Jebitok and Chebet launch the medal hunt on the first evening of competition Friday when the 3,000m final is run from 8.30pm local time, which will be 10.30pm Kenyan time.

The three days of competition in these 37-year-old championships will be held at the Štark Arena, a multi-purpose venue used for sports, culture, entertainment and fairs and which holds about 18,500 spectators.

Former world 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei is Kenya’s head coach here, her first assignment as coach after a stellar career that saw her win gold at the 1997 World (outdoor) Championships in Osaka.

An Olympic Games silver medallist in 2008 behind Pamela Jelimo in Beijing, Jepkosgei, 38, wants indoor athletics given more respect, and is confident of a rich Kenyan harvest here.

“The World Indoor Championship is like any other world championship,” she said.

“We have over 100 countries here to compete and I’m happy Kenya sent a strong team and a bigger number than before.

“We are happy and this is the way to go, and I’m sure by next year many more people will be competing indoors because we are able in the same way as we compete in the outdoor events.”

Jepkosgei - who has, since retirement, nurtured several young athletes to the global stage – is happy with the team’s positive outlook to this weekend’s competition.

“We thank God we travelled safely and have arrived here in good spirits… the athletes are in a good mood and, in fact, they want to go for their training.

“Being my first outing as national coach, apart from working with the young ones, I’m really happy and looking forward to good results.

“The athletes are really motivated, they want to achieve and are ready to fight.”

Team Kenya’s head of delegation, Barnabas Kitilit, was equally upbeat upon arrival.

“I’ve been with the team since we assembled in Nairobi on Saturday and I’m happy we had a safe, enjoyable flight.

“The weather here is not bad with temperatures above 10 degrees centigrade and the athletes can train comfortably,” he said.

He expressed his confidence that the selected team has already had experience running indoors this season and have set lofty targets for themselves.

“This year we have a number of world and regional events and it means a lot to these athletes,” the team leader noted.

Team Kenya was pleasantly surprised when a handful of cheering Serbia-based Kenyan students were on hand to receive them at the Nikola Tesla Airport shortly after they touched down at midday, local time.

After checking into their hotel, the athletes and officials were guided to the Crown Plaza Hotel for Covid-19 screening, the lengthy procedures meaning that they can only launch their training on Thursday morning at the designated training venues.

At the team hotel, Ethiopia’s 3,000m trio of Berihu Aregawi, Selemon Barega and Lamecha Girma were engaged in friendly banter with their Kenyan counterparts, the preamble to what promised to be an amazing showdown when the final is run on the final morning of competition this Sunday from 12.05pm local time (2.05pm Kenyan time).