AK, camp circus leave Saruni out of London Worlds

What began for Michael Saruni as a peculiar omission from the Kenyan 800m team for the IAAF World Athletics Championships in London is turning into a bizarre pre-London story.

Eyebrows were raised when Athletics Kenya (AK) dropped the UTEP star in favor of Ferguson Rotich (2016 IAAF Diamond League champion) and David Rudisha (2015 IAAF world champion) both of whom had wild cards for the August 4-13 global showpiece.

Saruni was a third finisher at the National Trials held last month and with AK having made explicit their selection criteria of awarding spots to top three athletes in each event, he should have been the obvious choice.

Unconfirmed reports indicated the 22-year-old had been moved to the 4X400m relay team but in the latest episode of the unfolding drama, Saruni will not be on the Team Kenya plane to the British Capital having been ousted due to indiscipline.

It is reported Saruni, who finished third behind Emmanuel Korir and World Junior champion Kipyegon Bett in the Trials, had gone AWOL from the Team Kenya camp in Kasarani and did not respond to calls when officials tried to reach him.

Thus, he was not entered for any event.

“We had up to July 24th midnight to summit our final entries for the 800m and other events. As technical bench we did an analysis yesterday (Monday) with each athlete including their assessment in training and track record.

“Until yesterday we only had four athletes for the 800m event in camp, that is David Rudisha, Ferguson Rotich, Kipyegon and Korir and those are the names that we submitted yesterday for the event.

“Saruni has been missing in camp being since last week on Thursday without any permission. We have been looking for him but he did not return any of our calls while he was away,” Coach Bernard Ouma told Citizen Digital.

-Pair of wild cards-

The 800m team drew attention earlier last month when Rudisha, a world record holder in the specialty, was ‘accidentally’ left out during the naming of Team Kenya.

The two-time Olympic champion had been granted permission to miss the Trials in order to focus for his title defence.

Team Kenya selectors put themselves in a fix when AK president Lieutenant Gen. (Rtd) announced the first three across the line would secure their tickets, forgetting Rudisha and Rotich had a wild card each.

“Saruni resurfaced back today (Tuesday) in the morning on the track during our training. He has missing for about a week. I would not like to disclose the other discipline and technical issues. If I have to put you in the team then you have to avail yourself.

“Saruni was called more than four times by the coaches, friends and parents and yet he was not willing to come back. He did not respond to calls and so we were left with no other option than exclude him,” Ouma offered.

Ouma added that the youngster, who earlier this year named U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Mountain Region Men’s Track Athlete of the Year, had a potential of a podium finish.