Stop posturing, just get out there, rally behind our stars
Workers clean the running track at the Nyayo National Stadium on July 6, 2023 on the eve of the Kenyan trials to the World Championships.
What you need to know:
- Two world records, a world best and several world lead times was more than enough for the price of one ticket.
Last month, track and field fans in Florence and Paris paid top dollar to watch Diamond League classic in which Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon smashed world records in the 1,500 and 5,000 metres, respectively.
I was at the Stade Sebastien-Charlety for the latter, one of the most memorable nights in my sports reporting.
Two world records, a world best and several world lead times was more than enough for the price of one ticket.
The humid night started off with Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen demolishing the fastest time in the two-mile race with a blistering seven minutes, 54.10 seconds, surpassing Kenyan Daniel Komen’s previous best mark of 7:58.61 set in 1997.
Shortly afterwards, spurred on by the wavelights, Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma shattered the world record in the men’s steeplechase, his 7:52.11 eclipsing the 19-year-old mark of 7:53.63 by Kenya-born Qatari Saif Saeed Shaheen.
And then Kipyegon lined up to “pace” Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gigey who had asked for a fast pace as she eyed an improvement of her own 5,000m world record, only to be stunned by the Kenyan sensation who obliterated the record with a phenomenal, 60-second final lap to win in 14:05.20, just seven days after she lowered the 1,500m best to 3:49.11 in Florence.
The same night, Kenya’s world junior champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi won the 800m in a world lead 1:43.27, while Africa record holder Ferdinand Omanyala ran his first sub-10 seconds 100m on European soil, finishing in 9.98, just one hundredth of a second behind USA’s world 200m champion Noah Lyles (9.97).
Kipyegon, 29, will be lining up at the Nyayo National Stadium for this weekend’s Athletics Kenya trials for the World Athletics Championships to be hosted in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19 to 27. And so will Wanyonyi, and so will Omanyala…
But while scores of political leaders tweeted messages of congratulations and squeezed themselves into photo ops at State House when President William Ruto hosted Kipyegon to celebrate her record runs, I doubt they will be at Nyayo National Stadium to cheer on these gallant stars as they chase tickets to Budapest.
More often than not, many of our political leaders play to the gallery, chasing photo ops with world-conquering sports stars while remaining oblivious of their horrid training conditions and struggles to get onto global podiums.
I would be happy if they proved me wrong and showed up at Nyayo National Stadium and tweet about watching Kipyegon win the 5,000m final at 2.20pm on Friday, or Wanyonyi upsetting his seniors in the 800m (3.15pm on Saturday) and Omanyala running the fastest time on the Nyayo track at 1.10pm on Saturday.
The Kenyan trials - along with the four-day US trials that started on Thursday running until Sunday at Hayward Field in Eugene – remain the most competitive track and field competition outside the World Championships and Olympic Games.
It’s the only time that Kenyans can watch all their elite stars compete on home soil, hence the reason we shouldn’t have an excuse not to turn up at the Nyayo National Stadium today and tomorrow for the big show.
I know for sure that Webuye MP Dan Wanyama, who chairs the National Assembly Committee on Sports, Culture, and Tourism, will be at Nyayo this weekend, being an avid sportsman and former national volleyball team player and captain. I also know that Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba won’t miss these trials for anything else.
They should rally their colleagues in the legislature and executive to turn up, celebrate our stars on home soil, listen to the challenges that face, or forever hold their congratulatory tweets!
See you all at Nyayo National Stadium Friday and Saturday, and all the best to the athletes who will run clean and earn tickets to Budapest.
Entry is free so there’s absolutely no reason not to show up!
Makori is the Lead Editor (Compliance and Integration) at Nation Media Group. [email protected]
