In Kirwa we trust! He’ll lead Kenya to glory

Sometimes you need an old hand to discover some things or let’s just say experience is the best teacher. I am talking about the return of coach Julius Kirwa, who was recently appointed as the head coach of Team Kenya to the World Athletics Championships in Beijing next month.

Apart from Mike Kosgei, Kirwa is the only other most successful coach in the country’s athletics history, having guided Kenya at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Kirwa will head a technical bench of three coaches with Gilbert Koech, who is a husband to two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat and namesake Isaac Kirwa as the other coaches.

To be honest, Kirwa is not only a darling of the Kenyan runners but also the athletics fraternity. He has always bonded well with runners; and his father figure has helped him make wiser decision.

Since he was appointed a week ago, he has hit the ground running and already there is silent confidence within the athletics circles that the country could just be on their way to glory again.

Unlike in the past, where the coaches to major championships have been appointed on the same day the team is named - sometimes two weeks to the event - this time round things have been handled differently. The coaches have already been named with over a month before the World Championship Trials.

This in itself is a plus for Athletics Kenya because the coaches can now monitor the probable athletes and make recommendations. Besides, it will be easier for the tacticians to work with the runners even before they are selected and we can stay rest assured that even the wildcards if any, will be worthwhile.

Already Kirwa is discovering things that would otherwise have been ignored barely a week into his new role. The man who handled Team Kenya during the 2012 London Olympics is rather worried with the lack of qualifiers in the women’s 10,000m for the World Championships.

(READ: Kirwa's headache over women 10,000m time)

He reckons that the only athlete who has come close to qualifying time of 32:00.00 minutes, is Doricah Obare Kerubo, who missed the mark by 3.18 seconds after clocking 32:03.18 to finish 17th at Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California on May 2.

Others are Lucy Cheruiyot, who won Kenya Prisons meet in 32:35.45 on July 20, Veronica Nyaruai (32:39.2) and world 10,000m silver medallist Gladys Cherono (32:46.0), who finished first and second respectively during the Kenya Defence Forces meet on July 12.

This is the mark of a good coach although with the current situation and the Diamond League still running, he will need to do much more. He needs to have a one-on-one talk with the athletes, especially those who are not in contention for the 2015 Diamond League Series jackpot. We all know that the Diamond League could be counterproductive to Kenya’s chances and there is need for the probables to slow down on their participation.