Records galore! Kenyan trials a mini-Olympics indeed

Last weekend’s national trials for the Paris Olympics indeed delivered on a scale unseen before.

All the uncertainty about whether the event would be held at Nyayo Stadium was soon forgotten as all competitors brought their A-game in the battle for tickets to the quadrennial games.

Our gratitude goes to the government, via the Ministry of Sports, for heeding to stakeholders’ request to temporarily reopen Nyayo Stadium and enable us to hold the national trials on Friday and Saturday.

It was worth it as several records were broken as all athletes who competed proved why this competition has traditionally been billed as the mini-Olympics.

Performances over the two days are evidence that Kenyan athletes are hungry for glory in Paris and to bring pride to the nation.

Looking at the majestic way in which she ran, one wouldn’t have known that Faith Kipyegon was competing in her first race of the year after a brief tussle with injury.

Three straight titles

Winning the women’s 5,000m and 1,500m – clocking Africa’s fastest time in the latter race – speaks volumes about an athlete who is more than ready to make history in Paris.

She wants to be the first to win three straight titles in the 1,500m and add an Olympic gold in the 12-and-a-half lap race to her medal collection.

Another takeaway from the weekend was the gargantuan performance by youngster Emmanuel Wanyonyi whose time of 1:41.70 is the third fastest of all time in the men’s 800m!

Add to the fact that he was nursing an injury sustained from a fall in the semis of the same competition and one can’t help but wonder if we are looking at the true successor to ‘King David’ Rudisha.

May Paris 2024 be a reincarnation of London 2012 when Rudisha brought the world to its feet with a world record of 1:40.91.

Africa’s fastest man

It wouldn’t be foolhardy to bet on Wanyonyi smashing the world record in the French capital considering he has already broken the mile world record – in May this year at the Adizero Roads to Record in Germany.

Elsewhere, Ferdinand Omanyala showed that form is temporary and class is permanent with a world lead of 9.79 in the men’s 100m.

Looking at his performance across the year, Africa’s fastest man has gotten better with every race and we can only look forward to him doing better than 9.79 at the Olympics.

History awaits; the possibility of Africa’s fastest man becoming the first-ever Olympic 100m champion from the continent – or at worst, the second-ever medallist since Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks’ silvers at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996.

There are those athletes who are still pursuing the qualification times for their respective races.

We wish them all the best as they participate in various competitions around the globe.

Korir is Athletics Kenya’s Nairobi Branch Chairman. [email protected]